


The Unexpected Journey to You

by fruityy



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/F, Fantasy, other members make a small appearance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:48:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25019560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fruityy/pseuds/fruityy
Summary: Jinsoul is on a journey to find the Dark Lord and kill him to hopefully gain respect and love from her father. She doesn't expect the journey to be easy but wants it to go smoothly without any distractions.... And then she meets Choerry.
Relationships: Choi Yerim | Choerry & Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul, Choi Yerim | Choerry & Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul & Kim Jungeun | Kim Lip, Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul/Kim Jungeun | Kim Lip
Comments: 49
Kudos: 94





	1. Hi, I’m Choerry!

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! this is my first LOONA fic and I really hope you like it :] please let me know what you think of it so far, it would really help a lot and thank you so much for reading <3

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH” Jinsoul shrieked as she got hit in face by yet another tree branch that seemingly appeared out of thin air. If Jinsoul was being honest with herself, she knew that she was too distracted to look where she was going but in her defense, she didn’t have a clue as to where she was going anyway. 

Jinsoul has been mindlessly wandering around across the land for almost three months now- although it feels like a few years. She has been going from town to town gathering information to achieve her goal of finding the Dark Lord and confronting him. Normally she wouldn’t care for people she didn’t know, let alone what they were doing, but six months ago the Dark Lord managed to not only find her father, but also severely wound him to bring him down from one of the most powerful men in the world to one of the weakest. 

Jinsoul and her father had never been particularly close. He had always wanted a son to take over the reigns of being the person to watch over the land after he had passed but when Jinsoul was born and showed little to no interest in ruling over people, they grew apart. That didn’t stop Jinsoul from wanting her father's attention and approval though. She still fought and trained hard to make him proud but even when she would take down any man who dared to spar with her, she could always tell that he was never going to be impressed. 

So here she was, travelling to who knows where, to find a man she didn’t know existed until this year, to do who knows what if she ever finds him. She didn’t really think this through but she figured if she took down the person who hurt her father, he would be proud of her and be glad that she was born. All the information she had gotten so far was that she had to keep going east and she’ll get closer to who she was looking for. No one had ever actually seen the Dark Lord before, but they knew that the dark energy that was travelling through the air was coming from the east. 

Currently in the middle of a dense forest, Jinsoul decided to take a break and sat down at the bank of a river to rest. Cleaning up her face from dirt and grime, she refilled her water bottle and was about to take a nap when she heard tree branches breaking from behind her. She immediately got up and put her hand on her weapon just in case. 

“Hello? Who’s there?” No one answered. But something definitely shifted.

“Look, I don’t want any trouble but I won’t hesitate to fight you.” She tried again but stil, no one answered. Jinsoul sighed and decided to just get this over with. She started running towards the trees, yelling while lifting her blade up. 

“WAIT! WAIT I’M SORRY I DIDN’T MEAN TO SCARE YOU!” A small voice was heard behind a tree to Jinsoul’s left. She significantly lowered her sword but still held it as she slowly approached the tree. 

“Come out slowly with your hands up.” 

She watched as a small girl slowly revealed herself from her hiding place and slowly looked at Jinsoul in the eyes. The girl couldn’t have been that old but had the most violently purple colored hair Jinsoul, and probably the world, has ever seen. 

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” Jinsoul asked while lowering her sword further. Last she checked she hasn’t another person in days and the closest village was far ahead of her too, at least another two days journey. 

“I’m Choerry! I’m just exploring and making my way back. I went to go visit my friend recently!” 

Before Jinsoul could ask any more questions, she heard more noises coming from behind her, this time she recognized them as the small mutants that tend to inhabit the area. She lifted her sword again and hid Choerry behind her back. 

“Run. Turn around and run far away from here as fast as you can.” 

“What? No! I wanna stay with you.”

“It’s not safe here and I wouldn’t want you to get hurt! Just go.” Jinsoul said while turning to look at the girl behind her. Choerry was about to argue again but the look in Jinsoul’s eyes told her that that wasn’t a good idea. She simply nodded and turned around and sprinted in the other direction away from Jinsoul. Jinsoul would have stood there and watched her run until she couldn’t see her anymore if it weren’t from the growling sounds coming from behind her. She lifted her sword high and mentally prepared herself to fight off mutants for the third day in a row. 

-

Jinsoul groaned as she wiped the blood off her lip and the sweat off her forehead. Fighting the mutants wasn’t the hardest thing in the world, it was actually quite easy but the sheer amount of them was what drained her the most. She was wiping her sword clean of blood and dirt when her stomach growled loudly. She reached for her snack bag but couldn’t find it anywhere on her bag and realized she must have left it back at the river and forgot to retrieve it after fighting off those creatures. 

Walking for another 45 minutes or so, she finally spotted a bush with some kind of berry growing on them. Jinsoul might not be the smartest nor the dumbest person but she was still willing to take the chance on whether or not these berries were poisonous or not after staring at them and contemplating for a while. She decided that her hunger was a stronger factor than her risk of being poisoned and started to pick a few. What could the harm possibly be right? She examined one and lifted it towards her mouth-

“I wouldn’t do that if i were you.” 

Jinsoul screamed and dropped all the berries she had just picked. She turned around and glared at whoever just intruded on her snack time. She was somehow not surprised when she came to face to face with the little girl from earlier again. 

“How did you find me?” Jinsoul asked, slightly annoyed.

“I didn’t have to find you if I never lost you.” The girl replied slightly smugly.

“How long have you been following me? I thought I told you to run away.”

“I did but still stayed close enough to watch you fight those things and stay safe.” 

“Why?” Jinsoul had never met anyone who wanted to stick around when mutants were in the area, everyone who had half a brain would know to not willingly go near them since they travel in large packs and are always unpredictable. 

“Where are you going?” The girl countered with her own question. 

“None of your business.” Jinsoul said while turning around and continuing her journey, hopefully without the girl behind her. But clearly that wasn’t going to be the case when she heard footsteps running up behind her and eventually coming next to her. 

“Can I come?” 

“ _What?_ Absolutely not.” 

“Why not?”

“It’s too dangerous.” 

“I’ll be fine, I promise. I travel through here a lot and I’ve done it safely every time! I can help you too!”

“How can you possibly help me?” 

“I mean I _did_ just save you from being poisoned from those berries.” 

Jinsoul stopped and internally rolled her eyes. The girl was right. For some reason this girl knew the forest better than she did and it might be nice to have some kind of companion after traveling all this time alone. 

“ _Fine_. You can come with me for now but the second it gets too dangerous then you can’t anymore. I’m not gonna be responsible for you getting hurt and have that on my conscience.” Jinsoul said while continuing to walk.

The girl beamed and nodded her head vigorously and started skipping. Jinsoul wondered how she was supposed to tell a child that she was on her way to visit someone called The Dark Lord and when the trip was going to get extremely dangerous. She figured it would be best to not tell her anything and take it day by day in order to avoid any emotional attachment. Apparently her plan was already going to fail when a voice broke her train of thought yet again. 

“So what’s your name?” 

“I’m not telling you.” Jinsoul said without looking at her.

“Why not?! I told you my name!” the girl shrieked. 

“I didn’t ask for it and if I'm being honest, I already forgot it.” 

“WOW! My name is Choerry!” The girl said without reducing her volume. Jinsoul at this moment wasn’t sure if eating those berries wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all. 

“That’s cool.” Jinsoul deadpanned. 

“Thanks, I made it up myself!” 

“I can tell.” 

“So what’s your name?” Choerry ignored the comment and tried again. 

“I already told you that I’m not gonna tell you.” 

“That seems unfair. How am I supposed to help you without knowing your name?”

“Just yell or something.” Jinsoul was getting increasingly annoyed and it only further increased when her stomach growled again.

“Wow, it sounds like you want a couple of these huh..” Choerry said while pulling out a bag of nuts and fruits from her own backpack. 

“YOU HAD THAT THE WHOLE TIME?” It was Jinsoul’s turn to get loud. 

“Yes. I kinda forgot but I also only share my goods with my friends whose names I know though so…” 

“You can just call me Soul.” Jinsoul groaned. 

“...I guess that’s fair since Choerry isn’t my real name either. NICE TO MEET YOU SOUL!” Choerry yelled while handing over her bag of trail mix. 

Jinsoul isn’t sure whether she’s going to lose her mind or her hearing first but it’s truly a close race at this point. She opened the bag and started to eat the trail mix while trying her best to ignore the girl humming next to her. 

“So where are we going?”

Jinsoul wondered what the fine is for decking a minor in the face for a second but nevertheless, she sighed and decided to make this trip as headache free as possible. 

“Towards the far east coast.” 

Choerry’s face distorted into one of confusion and kept opening and closing her mouth to say something but nothing would come out. 

“What is it?” Jinsoul asked.

“Nothing it’s just… we’re heading south right now?” 

Jinsoul stopped and checked her surroundings and noticed that the girl was right. The sun was setting to her right which meant that they were indeed heading south. How could she not have noticed this before? She blames it on the trail mix distracting her. 

“Well… Thanks I guess.” Jinsoul said while turning left and started walking that way.

“You’re welcome SOULmate!” Choerry said happily. 

“Don’t call me that.” This was gonna be a long journey.


	2. Choerry > Men

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi :] I hope you like this!! I'll try my best to update as often as I can but motivation is hard to find sometimes :( have a great day/night!! <3

Jinsoul held up two apples at eye level and closely examined them. It might look strange to anyone watching her but she takes her snacks very seriously. Her current predicament is to pick between a shiny red apple or a crisp looking green one and after a bit of contemplating, she finally chose. 

“I’ll have 5 green apples please!” she happily paid and continued on.

She was currently in the middle of a busy market of a town stocking up on supplies and food needed to continue her journey. After getting more food, water, and emergency supplies, she was about to start heading out again before she suddenly realized that she hadn't been bothered in a hot minute. Where’s Choerry? 

Jinsoul retraced her steps and walked around the entire marketplace twice but couldn’t seem to find the other girl. She started to think the girl changed her mind about accompanying her on her trip when she heard a shrill scream coming from a neary alleyway. She took off at lightning speed and reached the back of the alley to see Choerry with her back against the wall with three bruly guys surrounding her. The small girl noticed her almost immediately and her eyes showed both relief and fear. 

“SOUL!!” Choerry shrieked as the three men turned around to look at the newcomer. 

“Well, we weren’t expecting to have two today but I guess we’re just really lucky.” One of the men said while smiling deviously. 

“Look, I don’t want any trouble just let her go.” Jinsoul said.

“That’s just unfortunate then. We love trouble.” The man on the far right said. He slowly started to approach Jinsoul so she started to grab her sword. As soon as he got close enough, she quickly unsheathed her weapon and made a quick slice through the man’s shoulder, causing him to retract and fall backwards. 

It was such a quick action that everyone else barely had time to comprehend that Jinsoul had taken out her sword before the man had fallen on the ground. The man on the far left grinded his teeth and growled as he moved forward and tried to punch Jinsoul in the face to which she easily ducked under and hit him hard on the back with the hilt of the sword. He was about to get up again when she hit him again on the back of the head, effectively knocking him out quickly. 

The last man stood there and sighed while rolling his eyes. “If you want something done around here then you have to do it yourself.” He charged full speed at Jinsoul and although she expected him to come in from her left, he actually went right and managed to hit her in the ribs and knocked the air out of her in a second. 

Gasping for air on the ground, she felt the man step on her chest and apply heavy pressure. Just as she was about to feel like she was going to pass out, she heard a loud scream from behind the man and suddenly, Choerry was on his back clawing at his face. He took his foot off of Jinsoul and tried to shake the little girl off of him which allowed Jinsoul to stand up and regain her senses. She took the opportunity of the man not paying attention to her to use a nearby plank of wood to knock him out as well. Choerry hopped off his back as he fell to the ground and immediately ran to Jinsoul and wrapped her arms around her. 

“I thought you would never come! Thank you so much!” Choerry sobbed into Jinsoul’s shirt. Jinsoul wasn’t sure why she was so relieved that the girl was safe but took the girl into her arms anyway and held her. 

“I thought I told you to find snacks and supplies! What were you doing back here?” 

“Well I was getting my snacks when I heard these men talk about selling weapons and accessories and I was interested. They told me to follow them back here but they cornered me and I was in the middle of thinking of a plan when you came!” Choerry looked extremely guilty for falling for it which made Jinsoul soften her tone a bit. 

“Why were you looking for weapons? You aren’t interested in them and don’t need a big one anyway.” 

“AH!” Choerry seemed to remember something and returned to where she was standing earlier and picked something up off the ground before running back. “At least they actually had some weapon accessories. I wanted to get this for you… It’s a new scabbard that looks stronger than the one you have now and automatically sharpens your sword whenever you pull it in and out.” The girl nervously said while slowly handing Jinsoul a new sword holder. 

Jinsoul stared at the object in her hands in awe as she slid her sword through it. Perfect fit. She pulled Choerry back into her arms and held her tightly as the purple haired girl reciprocated excitedly. 

“This is amazing, thank you so much. I appreciate this a lot but don’t ever run off in an unknown place like that again, okay? Your safety and life is worth way more than any weapon or accessory out there. You really had me worried.” Jinsoul said before finally letting the other girl go. 

“I’m sorry, I just got really excited and thought you would like it but I promise to be more careful from now on.” 

“Good. Now are you hungry? We should probably eat here and maybe stay in a hotel or something for the night before continuing in the morning.” Choerry nodded furiously and the two made their way out of the alley and back into town 

-

After having dinner together in town, the two checked into a nearby motel and both women were so glad that they were able to shower and rest before continuing tomorrow. 

“You can go shower first, I need to come up with a few plans.” Jinsoul told Choerry while sitting at the table with paper and pens. Choerry simply nodded and grabbed the new clothes she had gotten earlier in the day and walked into the bathroom. 

Jinsoul sat in the chair and pondered the future and how she was going to do this. Would she even be able to find the Dark Lord? What is she even gonna do when she faces him? Kill him? No, that’s not an option. Killing out of revenge isn’t going to make her feel better. Severely wound him and leave like he did to her father? What’s that going to fix though? The strong internal conflict going on deep inside of Jinsoul would have to be solved before she gets there but she wasn’t sure if she could. Her train of thought was broken when someone called out to her. 

“Soul? I’m done, you can go now.” Choerry said while coming out of the bathroom with a towel on her head. 

_Choerry._ That’s something Jinsoul hadn’t considered. Sure, she appreciates Choerry’s companionship now but when will it be time for them to split up? She definitely can’t take the girl with her to someone called the Dark Lord, that’s ridiculous. Where was Choerry going anyway? There were way too many questions and unsolved problems going on inside Jinsoul’s head that she felt a headache brewing. She sighed and grabbed her things before going into the bathroom, hoping a warm shower would make her feel better and help clear her mind. 

-

“I’m sorry but what is _that_ supposed to be?!” Choerry laughed at the creature on Jinsoul’s paper as the two were sitting on the floor of the room drawing together.

“It’s a fish! I like them a lot, what’s wrong with it?!” Jinsoul said, feigning offense. 

“It just looks like a blob with two giant eyes!” Choerry said while gasping for air.

“How could you insult me like that! After all I’ve done for you!” Jinsoul said while putting her hand on her chest.

“Okay okay I’m sorry, your fish blob is beautiful.” Choerry said while putting her hands up to surrender.

“What are you drawing?” 

“Just some cherries, and small animals.” 

Jinsoul looked over and saw that the girl had drawn a bat, a frog, and an owl? 

“Those are the most random combination of animals I have ever seen.” Jinsoul said while lifting an eyebrow.

“Hey! They’re important to me! The bat is me, the frog is for my best friend I was visiting!” 

“And the owl?” 

“Just important to me in more ways than one.” 

Jinsoul was confused but let the topic go. 

“So… where are you from?” Jinsoul asked.

“Huh? I’m from around the east.” 

“You came all the way over here to visit a friend?” 

“Yup! Sometimes she comes to me and sometimes I go to her, we usually see each other at least once a month.” 

“Oh wow so you’ve travelled this way before then?” 

“Yeah quite a bit. I used to go with a couple guards since it can be pretty tiring and far but ultimately I decided that they slow me down and it’s more fun and convenient to just go on my own.” 

“You’re a little too young to be going that far through the land though.”

“I’m not a baby, Soul, I’m almost an adult. Plus I know enough of the land to know what to avoid and what’s safe. Don’t worry about me!” 

“Your parents really trust you to go like that? Hell, my mom barely let me go even 500 feet away from her. I had to beg her to let me go on this journey.” 

“My parent is just… really busy I guess. Barely even notices when I’m gone.” Choerry said with a sad smile on her face. 

Jinsoul wasn’t sure on how to answer the girl. Sure she didn’t receive the most amount of love and praise from her parents, specifically her father but they still paid attention to her and her mom still greatly supports her. 

“I’m sorry about that. I hope they realize that how great you are soon someday, this trip would be much worse without you, I don’t know where I’d be. Honestly probably dead if you hadn’t stopped me from eating those berries.” Jinsoul said while lightly laughing. 

Choerry beamed so brightly that Jinsoul swears she started shining. The girl leaped from her place on the floor into Jinsouls arms and lap and held onto her tightly. Jinsoul laughed and held the girl while wishing that there was some way they could still be together after all of this is over although she knew that the chances of that were low. 

“Why the sudden questions? I thought you said we didn’t have to know anything about each other.” Choerry said after letting go.

“I figured it would hurt less when we separate if we didn’t get emotionally attached but it seems like that isn’t possible at this point, is it?” 

“Nope!” Choerry said while smiling again. “I got attached since I saw you at the beginning of the forest!” 

“You were following me for that long?!” 

“Yup! We just happened to go in the same direction and I saw you and followed to make sure you wouldn’t get lost! And I also kind of wanted to steal your sword but now I feel like that probably isn’t a good idea.” 

“STEAL MY SWORD?!” Jinsoul playfully lunged at Choerry after that and the two started fighting on the floor until they were both out of breath and tired themselves out. 

“At least I didn’t! I didn’t gain a sword but I gained a protector of some sorts! Like a mom! You’re my mom!!” Choerry squealed.

“I am not your mom!!” Jinsoul said while throwing Choerry off of her.

She yawned and suddenly felt the wave of fatigue that days of traveling brings and she stood up and started to clean up the floor.

“We should go to bed to get an early start in the morning. We still have some ways to go and it’s best if we don’t waste too much time.” Jinsoul said while preparing to climb into her bed. 

“Okay, goodnight _mom_.” Choerry said as she climbed into the bed next to Jinsoul’s and before Jinsoul could even say anything else, she noticed that the girl had already knocked out and was breathing softly. She quietly laughed before turning off the light and climbing into her own bed and soon enough, she too entered her own deep sleep. 


	3. The Tales of the Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Perhaps this chapter was inspired by the Tales of Ba Sing Se episode of Avatar but Jinsoul and Choerry have separate experiences in town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!! Thank you for reading and pls let me know what you think and how I can improve! It would really mean a lot <3

Jinsoul woke up at around the same time the sun did and was walking around town for any last minute supplies she might need. She was scanning over some cloth that could potentially be used as blankets when she overheard some voices in the booth behind her. She turned around slightly to hopefully be able to hear better.

“Yeah, I heard the Dark Lord was seen going towards the Angelview Mountains last week!” 

“Really? I could have sworn he was last seen around Bluewood a little while ago.”

Bluewood. That’s where Jinsoul is from. They must be referencing the time her father battled the Dark Lord. Jinsoul tried to step backwards subtly to hear more but didn’t look behind her and tripped over a crate and landed flat on her butt right in between the two girls. They both looked down at Jinsoul, alarmed at the girl who just fell at their feet.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to fall!” Jinsoul said while quickly trying to get up and dust off her clothes. 

“No it’s okay! No harm done, are you alright?” One of the girls said while helping Jinsoul up.

“Yes! I’m completely fine, thank you! Actually, um, can I ask you a few questions about what you were talking about?” Jinsoul asked sheepishly.

“Huh? You mean the Dark Lord?” 

“Yes! Do you know anything else about where he might be?” 

“Umm no, just that they were last seen in the mountains. Why?”

“No reason, thanks anyway!” Jinsoul started walking away when the second girl who hadn’t said anything the entire time caught her attention.

“WAIT! What about the energy emissions? There were reports of high dark energy emissions coming from the Talongate cliff recently. Do you think that could be it?” 

Jinsoul swears that if it were socially acceptable, she would kiss the girl. She opted for just pulling the two into a hug instead. 

“YES! That sounds exactly like that would be it! Thank you so much, you have no idea how much trouble you just saved me! How can I thank you for this?”

“It’s nothing really, we just told you what we know.”

“Let me treat you to lunch! Here! What are your names?” Jinsoul said while furiously digging through her pockets for some money.

“Uhh well I’m Heejin and this is Hyunjin” the first girl said while the latter simply waved.

“Sweet! Well Heejin and Hyunjin, thank you so much! If I ever come back here, I’ll be sure to thank you guys properly next time!” Jinsoul said before stuffing the girls hands with money and turning around and taking off in the opposite direction, all supplies forgotten. The two other girls just stood there wondering why that stranger wanted to know about the Dark Lord so badly but decided to just continue on their day.

“So wanna get some lunch?” 

“Sure.”

-

Choerry was strolling around town frustrated that she couldn’t find anything that she wanted to buy. She had completely forgotten to bring back a gift on her trip this time around and she’s running out of time to get one. She scanned countless booths of jewelry, clothes and knick knacks but nothing caught her attention. Almost giving up, she was about to just go back to the hotel room when she accidentally ran into someone. 

“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking and didn’t expect anyone to be there!” she said while helping the woman pick up the fruits that she had dropped.

“It’s no problem my dear, it happens! Are you alright? You look stressed.” Something about this woman was slightly off yet familar to Choerry but she didn’t acknowledge it. She only nodded and handed back the fruit.

“Yes, I’m okay, just struggling to pick out a gift before I head home, that’s all.” 

“Oh, well maybe I can help you with that. Follow me, honey.” 

The woman lead Choerry into a small shop nearby and told her to sit down on the carpet as she put away the things she had bought at the market. The woman came back and sat across from Choerry on the floor with a small table in between them. 

“So what’s your name, sweetie?” 

“Umm it’s Choerry.” 

“That’s a unique one! I haven’t heard that before, I like it.” the woman said while smiling softly.

“Thank you, what’s yours?”

“That’s not as important but if you’d like, you can call me White Dove.”

The woman then held out both her hands and motioned for Choerry the same. Once she did, the woman gently held her hands and closed her eyes. The girl wasn’t sure on what to do so she did the same. They sat in silence for awhile and Choerry swears she was gonna fall asleep on the spot if she kept her eyes closed so she peeked them open to see the woman hadn’t moved and was in the same position. She looked around the room and saw simple posters on the walls, various small objects all around the room, and a single framed family picture on the wall which was too far away for her to see properly but she could note three people in the picture. 

The woman moved slightly and opened her eyes and looked at Choerry while letting go of her hands.

“So what’s bothering you?” 

“How do you know something is bothering me?”

“It can be sensed from a mile away, my dear. So go on, what is it that you need?” 

“I’m just struggling to find a gift to bring back home from my trip. I try to bring something different back every time but I’m running out of ideas and don’t want to get something simple either.” 

“Is this gift for someone special? A significant other? A friend? A parent?”

“Let’s just say it’s for my guardian… I’m not sure if parent could fit the context well.” Choerry said with a sad smile on her face.

“I see. I think I have just the thing for you.” The woman said before getting up and disappearing into another room. She returned quickly and carefully handed a small statute to Choerry. 

“These animals are beautiful creatures and although they often represent wisdom, they can also mean fertility, femininity, and protection as well. I hope it suits you well.”

“Thank you so much, it’s beautiful and I think it’s perfect.” Choerry said while beaming. She quickly realized something and a frown quickly formed on her face. “I don’t think I can afford this though, I don’t have much money on me and I need to buy more food and supplies.” she said sadly while handing back the object.

“Nonsense, I’m not charging you anything. I also struggled with being a suitable parent for the one who needed me most.” the woman said sadly.

“I’m sorry to hear that, you don’t seem like you would struggle with something like that.” 

The woman got up and walked toward the photo that Choerry had been looking at earlier and motioned her to follow. Choerry can see clearly now that the woman was standing next to another woman with a small child between them who looked extremely familiar to her although she couldn’t remember seeing a toddler anywhere recently. 

“This is a photo of my family many many years ago. I lost my wife through the Reign of Terror the Dark Lord brought upon this land and fell into a deep state of pain. I knew I couldn’t be the one to properly raise our daughter so I sent her off to a school far away. I hope that one day when she returns, she can forgive me and I can finally step up and be the mother she needs me to be.” The woman explained with sad tears coming down her face. Choerry also felt for the woman and pulled her into a hug. The way her heart clenched and broke at the mention of the Dark Lord was something she isn’t going to stop thinking about soon. 

“I’m sure she has learned to understand the situation and will forgive you. You did it to help her, not hurt her and she’ll see that.” 

“Thank you so much dear, I just hope Yeojinnie is doing well and has grown into a beautiful girl.”

“Wait. Yeojin?! I know Yeojin!! She’s my best friend!! Are you Mrs. Jo by any chance?!” Choerry said while suddenly bouncing off the walls. The woman stood there in shock as this girl was jumping up and down in front of her. 

“You know my little Yeojin?! How is she doing? Is she okay?!”

“YUP! I just went to go visit her, that’s where I’m coming from!! She’s doing well, she has many friends at school and she’s a wonderful person.” The woman's smile grew bigger and bigger with every word Choerry was telling her. The two talked about Yeojin for a long time before Choerry said she had to go and promised to stop by next time she goes to visit Yeojin to bring the woman with her. 

The two shared a long hug and Choerry made her way back to the hotel with not only the perfect gift but also a sense of relief and peace. 

-

Choerry had just finished wrapping her gift and packing the rest of her things when the door was busted open so quickly that the hinges could have flown off. 

“CHOERRY! WE HAVE TO GO!” Jinsoul came into the room with a flustered look on her face.

“WHAT? WHY? WHAT’S WRONG WHAT HAPPENED?!” Choerry yelled back 

“NOTHING BUT I FINALLY HAVE INFORMATION ON WHERE I NEED TO GO!” 

“WHERE ARE YOU GOING?” 

“WE NEED TO GO TOWARDS TALONGATE CLIFF!!” Jinsoul said. She missed the way Choerry’s face paled and the look of shock on her face.

“Why? Why are you going there?” 

“There’s just something there I need to take care of. Why? Do you want to go your separate way now? It’s okay if you do. I’ll be sad but I’ll be able to manage on my own, don’t worry about it.” Jinsoul said while coming towards Choerry. Her presence right in front of the girl snapped her out of her thoughts.

“Huh? No it’s fine, I want to keep going with you, just curious.” Choerry said.

“Where are you going anyway? We’re gonna have to split up eventually and I don’t want to steer you off your own course.” Jinsoul said while checking her map and packing her things.

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you when it’s time for me to go my separate way, I know where I’m going so LET’S GO!” Choerry said hurriedly while grabbing her things and walking out the door. 

Jinsoul simply shrugged and checked the whole room for anything they might have left behind before following the girl out and letting the door close behind her. 

-

Currently 3/4s of the way through the treacherous desert, Jinsoul swears if she doesn’t get some proper shelter and rest soon, she’s either going to have a heat stroke or start hallucinating. The trip so far has been the hardest leg for Jinsoul, she wasn’t used to the extreme heat and walking through sand was making things much harder. She hadn’t expected the desert to be such a vast landscape either so she went through most of her water faster than she should have. 

“If you need more water then there’s going to be an oasis about a mile in a half ahead of us.” Choerry said while turning around to look at the girl struggling to stand up straight behind her. The younger girl was surprisingly handling this trip a lot better than Jinsoul was and it confused the older girl. How can someone walk through the equivalent of hell on earth without wavering? 

“How do you know?” As far as Jinsoul is concerned, the past couple days of their journey has looked exactly the same and she has only seen sand, sand… and more sand. 

“I just do… We’re almost there” Choerry said without looking back. Jinsoul was too tired and didn’t care enough to argue further so she continued dragging her feet. 

Almost an hour later, Choerry spotted the oasis in the distance and Jinsoul swears she could hear angels singing in the background. With a second wind hitting her, Jinsoul starts running straight towards the oasis with Choerry following closely behind soon after. The closer they got to the water, the more they could see who- or what was surrounding the area. Mutants surrounded the area but they weren’t the forest mutants Jinsoul was used to. She had never been in a desert so she wasn’t sure if she could handle fighting these things well. It seems like she doesn’t have a choice however, they had noticed the two girls before they could stop themselves. There wasn’t a single form of movement for what felt like the longest 5 seconds in Jinsoul’s life then suddenly, 5 mutants started charging at once and the last thing Jinsoul processes before leaping into action is Choerry screaming behind her. 


	4. The Desert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> say "I" if you miss LOONA :((

**(TW: fighting/slight gore)**

Swinging her sword left, right, up and down, Jinsoul was able to figure out that the skin of desert mutants were much drier but thicker than those in the forest. It took her more force to cut through their skin and she was hoping her adrenaline could push her through this fight. Her arms were currently burning but she had managed to take down most of the mutants with few injuries. 

Many of the creatures started retreating to the other side of the desert which gave Jinsoul a second to breathe when she heard a shrill shriek from her right. She looked over to see Choerry on the ground with three mutants surrounding her, trying to get a grab at the girl. Jinsoul took a deep breath and ran over to them, immediately decapitating one while kicking another out of the way. She was finishing off the one she had kicked on the ground with the hilt of her sword when Choerry screamed again and when Jinsoul turned around, she saw that the mutant had managed to slash at the girl and cause an open wound. Jinsoul ran over and stabbed the mutant through the back, effectively killing it before it’s body dropped to the floor. 

“CHOERRY! I’M SO SORRY, OH MY GOSH, CAN YOU STAND?” Jinsoul said while collecting the crying girl in her arms. 

“It’s okay, Soul, it’s not your fault, I should have defended myself better, I’m sorry.” Choerry said while tightly gripping onto Jinsoul who was trying to stop the bleeding. She managed to use some extra cloth to temporarily close the wound and stop the bleeding but she knew that Choerry was gonna need help sooner than later. 

“I should have protected you first before anything else, I’m so sorry.” Jinsoul said while starting to cry. She carried Choerry closer to the water to allow the girl to drink and cool off while she tried to clean around the wound. 

“I will be okay, Soul, please don’t worry.” 

“How can you be okay? This wound is serious and I don’t have the proper materials to help it.” Jinsoul said while fully sobbing now and trying her best to not hurt the girl further. 

**(TW end)**

“I will be, just trust me, alright? It hurts like crazy and I feel like I’m going to pass out but time heals all wounds right?” Choerry said, trying to convince Jinsoul to not worry and to stop crying.

“THAT’S FOR EMOTIONAL WOUNDS, YOU BABOON, THIS IS A REAL GASH. WHAT IF IT GETS INFECTED?” Jinsoul yelled. Choerry had to work to force herself to not laugh at the mess of a woman in front of her. 

“Hey, what happened to not having any emotional attachment?” Choerry jokes.

“WELL TOUGH NUTS BECAUSE NOW I’M ATTACHED AND YOU’RE HURT BECAUSE OF ME AND MY INABILITY TO PROTECT OTHERS BECAUSE I’M WEAK AND WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE BORN.” Well. Choerry definitely didn’t expect that.

“What do you mean you weren’t supposed to be born? And you’ve done a really great job at protecting me so far, Soul. I’ve done this trip many times before but I’ve never enjoyed or felt safer than this time around because I have you.” Choerry carefully moved to hug the older girl as she spoke from the heart. “Everything is going to be okay, _I’m_ going to be okay, _you_ are going to be okay. We have each other and we’re gonna make it, okay?” Choerry softly spoke and held Jinsoul until the girl stopped crying. 

“I’m supposed to be comforting you right now, not the other way around” Jinsoul whined.

“I don’t need comforting, I’ll be alright. Let’s just rest here for the night, okay? We can stay under those trees over there. The desert gets crazy cold at night but the shrubs can insulate us well.” Jinsoul just nodded and carefully carried Choerry to a safer, secluded place and after she made sure the girl was comfortable and protected, she went to the water to clean herself and her sword up. 

-

Choerry was not joking when she said that the desert gets cold at night. If Jinsoul thought that she was gonna get a heat stroke earlier that same day, she swears she’s going to get hypothermia before her body can make it through the night. 

Choerry was out like a light surrounded by clothes, blankets, and trees to keep her warm and while Jinsoul was wrapped up the same way, she struggled to fall asleep. Many things were still clouding her mind and she couldn’t make them go away. 

After sleeping on and off for a couple of hours, Jinsoul was fully awakened by a noise coming from just a few feet away. She peeked from the bushes and expected to see more mutants but saw two people standing at the edge of the water. She considered robbing them but decided against it when she realized that no one would take care of Choerry if she failed. She opted to watch them closely for a while and was fully content just waiting it out until they left until the girl next to her groaned and shifted. 

“Choerry? Are you okay?” Jinsoul whispered, not wanting to alert the people a mere 10 feet away from them. 

“Soul? I don’t feel so good.” Choerry lowly groaned. 

Even in just the moonlight, Jinsoul could see that girl was extremely pale and sweating. Jinsoul didn’t know what to do but she knew she had to act quickly and after giving Choerry some water to drink and patting her forehead with a wet towel to get the sweat off, she made a decision. Slowly but surely, Jinsoul emerged from their hiding place with her hands up and spoke quietly.

“Please, can you help us?” 

The two people whipped around and quickly stood up and pulled out their weapons and stood in defense mode after being surprised by someone coming from behind them. Jinsoul can see now that it was two girls, one taller and skinnier than the other but much more fierce looking. 

“Who are you? How long have you been there?” the taller one said.

“We were here before you guys got here, we’ve been here for a while. Please, we need help quickly, I don’t think she has much time.” Jinsoul started pleading.

“Who? Who else is here with you?” 

“My friend, she got injured while we were fighting off the mutants earlier and she has a huge wound and I think it’s getting infected, can you help please?” 

Before the taller one could talk again, the shorter one walked forward so quickly, it scared Jinsoul. 

“I can help, let me see her.” the girl said with a serious look on her face. 

Jinsoul led them to where Choerry was laying and let the stranger look at her, hoping that they were actually going to help and not rob them. The woman bent down to look at Choerry and then her wound. 

“May I?” she asked while looking at Jinsoul. She nodded slightly and watched as the stranger started to slowly unwrap the cloth from Choerry’s abdomen and examine the wound. She made a clicking sound with her tongue and said a quick “be right back” before running out to her things to grab something and came back. 

“If it’s okay, I would like some privacy. Having too many people here could increase her risk of infection and I need room to work.” the woman said while starting to unpack her things. Jinsoul was unsure and skeptical of leaving Choerry in the care of someone they didn’t know and was about to protest when the girl spoke again. 

“You can leave the opening to these shrubs open so you can still see us, I just ask you to sit a little farther away.” Jinsoul has no choice but to oblige as the other two women walk back to where Jinsoul saw them originally and sit down while carefully watching Choerry get taken care of. Her worry must have been radiating off of her since the taller girl started speaking.

“So where are you guys going? It isn’t every day we see travellers come through here.” 

“Ahh just towards the east, got some business to take care of.” Jinsoul said without taking her eyes off of Choerry. 

“Oh okay.” The silence was awkward but Jinsoul didn’t notice. She held her breath when Choerry started to groan from whatever substance was being put on her wound but let it out when Choerry sighed in content. 

“Don’t worry, she’s one of the best medics in the area, your friend is in good hands.” The girl tried to ease the tension and Jinsoul simply nodded. 

“She’s really cute and I’m sorry she got hurt, what’s her name?” 

“Choerry.” 

“And yours?” 

“You can just call me Soul.” 

“Okay, cool. Well you can call me Yves and my partner over there is Chuu. I can promise that we’re gonna try our best to help you, it’s what we do.” Jinsoul doesn’t know whether or not she should believe what the girl was saying but she has no reason not to and if they were going to do something bad to them then they would have already and wouldn’t be trying to comfort Jinsoul and save Choerry. 

After an agonizing amount of time later, Chuu finally emerged from where Choerry was laying and Jinsoul quickly stood up to meet her. 

“She’s going to be okay, or at least she has a better chance to be. You’re lucky you found us when you did, there’s no infection and the bleeding has stopped. Just keep the wound from reopening and she should heal completely.” 

At some point during that report, Jinsoul started crying and she pulled Chuu into a huge hug to which the girl happily reciprocated. 

“I did notice something weird though…” 

“What? What is it?” Jinsoul’s panic immediately shot up again and Chuu immediately raised her hands to calm her down. 

“Nothing, it’s just that her body is pretty quick I guess? I’ve never seen it before but the wound reacted to the medication almost instantly and her infection disappeared as quickly as it showed up. I have honestly never seen it before but I’m glad that that happened as opposed to the other way around.” Chuu shrugged. 

“Huh, I guess that is weird. But thank you so much anyway, how could I ever repay you? I’ll give you anything.” Jinsoul said while hugging the two girls again. 

“Nothing, don’t worry about it, honestly. It’s what we do.” Chuu said while beaming so widely, it almost rivals Choerry’s smile. Yves just simply nodded and placed her hand on Jinsoul’s shoulder. “Just stay out of trouble and protect each other, it can be dangerous out there.” To which Jinsoul nodded vigorously, “Of course, I’m not gonna slip up again.”

“I left some extra bandages, be sure to change them often to avoid infection, okay?” 

She pulled them all into one last group hug before the two set off into the desert and Jinsoul returned to sit next to Choerry and watch her sleep peacefully. Chuu was right, Choerry was already looking a lot better than she was just a couple hours ago and it brought a sense of relief to Jinsoul and she was able to release the tension in her shoulders she didn’t even know she was holding. 

-

The next morning, Jinsoul was already up and filling their water bottles and cleaning her face and hands when Choerry woke up. She was able to stand on her own and hobbled over to Jinsoul by the water and started to clean her hands and face as well. 

“Oh hey! I didn’t know you had woken up, let me help you.” Jinsoul said while holding a hand out to Choerry. The girl smiled and took it and slowly got knee deep into the water and let out a breath. 

“What happened last night? One second I felt like I was about to throw my whole stomach out and the next I feel a lot better but still like I got run over by 50 camels.”

“Some really nice travellers who happened to be medics came and helped. Thank the universe for that honestly, I don’t know what would have happened without them.” 

“Oh so the woman I saw for that brief period wasn’t God then? That’s a shame, she was really pretty.” 

Jinsoul slightly giggled at that and nodded in agreement. When she looked at the wound, she saw that it was wrapped in proper bandages, a way better job than she had done with her cloth. 

“Let me change your bandages and we can keep going if you’re feeling better.” 

Choerry nodded and began to unwrap her bandage while Jinsoul grabbed extra water and cloth to clean the wound. When Choerry finished unwrapping the bandages, Jinsoul gasped when she returned and looked. The huge open gash that was previously on the girls body had practically closed and shrunk overnight. It looked as though she got sliced by a 3 inch blade rather than getting clawed at by a giant mutant. 

“H-how? It was such a big wound yesterday, I could have sworn you were gonna lose your whole stomach...” Jinsoul said while staring wide eyed at the girl and her little cut.

Choerry had a good idea as to why she healed so quickly but she simply went with “I told you I was going to be okay. I don’t need that many bandages anymore, just wrap it once and I should be okay.” she said while smiling. 

Jinsoul had no idea how to react to what happened but had to notice to just wrap the gash- now cut with minimal bandage. She packed her things as Choerry did the same and the two set off again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!! I'll be sure to try my hardest to get these chapters out efficiently with a quality story <33 Every comment makes me happy, thank you so much!


	5. The Mountains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is shorter than the others, I'm sorry :(( I hope you like it! We're almost done with the story I promise!!

If Jinsoul thought walking through the desert was bad, somehow traveling through a mountain is _so much worse._ Sure, it’s not as hot and the air isn’t as hard to breathe but _wow, she hated walking up all these stairs._

“Come on you slow poke, at least it’s just stairs and we aren’t actually scaling a whole mountain.” Choerry said while once again being ahead.

“I don’t understand how you can find enjoyment in this, my legs are screaming to be saved right now.” Jinsoul whined.

“I’m used to it and the exercise is a plus. Cardio is good for you, you know.” 

“I do cardio!” 

“Clearly.” 

“Hey!”

“We should probably go quickly, it’s best if we aren’t out here at night.” 

“Why? What happens at night?” 

“Uhh nothing we have to worry about if we go fast!” 

Jinsoul tried to think of ways to get the girl to talk but she had tried to get Choerry to tell her where the girl was going but with no luck every time. Granted Jinsoul didn’t tell her where she was going either but how could she tell the purple haired girl that she was trying to find the biggest supervillain in the world? 

“If there’s anything worse than these stairs then it’s the insane amount of bugs!! How are you not bothered by them?!” Jinsoul complained again.

“Well it usually doesn’t take me this long to come through here! Plus swatting at them only makes it worse.”

Jinsoul swatted at the bugs one last time before letting out a huff and continued climbing the stairs at a painfully slow pace. 

-

A trip that should have taken 3 hours at most took them well over 5 with Jinsoul needing to stop more often than she was actually walking and complaining that she needed to stop to get more water or pee. 

Night had fallen and it was getting harder and harder to see in front of them with their only guide being the moonlight. Jinsoul was trudging alone, humming some random song that was in her head when Choerry suddenly shushed her and halted her movement. 

“What is it?” Jinsoul whispered.

“I thought I heard something” Choerry said while scanning the area with her eyes. She was about to start moving again when she definitely heard something close to a low growl coming from ahead of her on the right. She immediately grabbed Jinsoul and pulled her left behind huge boulders and slightly peeked out. After seconds of waiting, the two saw what looked like two wolves emerging from the side and sniff around. Choerry watched them closely while Jinsoul was too shocked to move or make a sound. 

As the wolves started getting closer, their heartbeats started increasing and Jinsoul swears the sound of hers was going to give them away. In a last minute attempt to distract the wolves, Choerry picked up a nearby rock and launched it far in front of them. The sound of it hitting something was enough to get the wolves to turn around and follow the noise. 

Jinsoul let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding and as she looked down, she spotted a huge cockroach looking bug on her arm. She let out a scream and slapped the bug off but not only did she hit herself too hard and squish the bug on her, she got the attention of the wolves who had turned around and spotted the two girls.

 _Oh my gosh this is it, this is the end. I can’t believe I’m about to die because of a cockroach. I’m too young, I haven’t even experienced the fun things in life yet like sneaking out to meet a lover or throw eggs mean old men or see how many grapes I can fit into my mouth at once._ Jinsoul’s thoughts were running rampant as she basically counted down the seconds to her ultimate demise. She was so lost in her thoughts that she missed the loud whistle coming from her left but thankfully Choerry had heard it and pulled Jinsoul backwards and further away from the animals. 

A second whistle sounded, one that Jinsoul actually heard this time, and all of a sudden a girl appeared on the platform just steps above them with another, smaller girl following behind. The first girl made a giant leap while yelling and landed on one of the wolves, injecting it with some kind of substance that calmed it down and subdued it quickly. The second girl took a less dramatic action and slowly approached the second wolf with her hand full of nuts and snacks before injecting it with the same. Both wolves were now sleeping on the floor and Jinsoul had no idea how to comprehend what just happened. 

“Wow, that was so cool! How did you guys do that so bravely and efficiently?!” Choerry said while stepping out first. Jinsoul swears she could have a heart attack and die right then. This trip has become way more lunatic than she could have ever imagined. 

“Practice I guess, we don’t do this often but figured you guys could have used the help after we heard one of you scream.” The smaller of the two said. 

“Oh yeah that would have been the hag standing behind me.” Choerry and the other two girls looked to see Jinsoul standing with her mouth wide open, looking at them like they all had grown three heads.

“Soul, if you’re so scared of bugs you should close your mouth before one flies in.” Choerry said as the other two snickered. That snapped Jinsoul out of her daze.

“I’ll have you know that it wasn’t just any bu- EGH!!” Jinsoul sputtered as a random bug flew into the back of her throat. Choerry face palmed and turned back around to talk to their two saviors as Jinsoul chokes in the background.

“Thank you so much for helping us, I don’t know what we would have done if you guys didn’t come. Is there anything we can do to repay you?” 

“We get how it is, not everyone is so used to being around these creatures. They’re honestly just big fluff balls that could kill you but they really wouldn’t unless they need to. Better safe than sorry, don’t worry about it.” She waved off.

“Who are you guys? What did you inject them with? Where are we? Are we almost there?” Jinsoul threw out as soon as she finished spitting out the bug.

“Uhh well for starters, I’m Gowon and this is Hyejoo-” The blonde was cut off when the taller girl cleared her throat loudly. 

“This is _Olivia Hye_ ” Gowon said while sighing. Olivia nodded. “We injected something in them that puts them to sleep for about 30 minutes, don’t worry they aren’t dead or anything. We’ll leave them some snacks for when they wake up but we should probably get out of here before they do.” The three others nodded and they all started walking up the mountain.

“Do you know how to get to Talongate Cliff by any chance?” Jinsoul asked.

Olivia Hye and Gowon looked at each other before nodding hesitantly. 

“Umm we do, why?” Olivia asked.

“That’s where we, or at least I, are trying to go. Just need to take care of some business around there.” 

“You’re almost there, there’s going to be a giant boulder the size of a statue at a crossroads up ahead except you’ll know it’s the right one, it’s oddly specific but at least that makes it easy.” Olivia explained while Jinsoul took in every word and nodded. 

“Okay, awesome, thank you so much for your help!” Jinsoul said cheerily. _Finally,_ she thought. After all this time traveling across what felt like the entire world for who knows how long, she’s so close to reaching her goal.

“No problem, try your best to stay out of trouble, yeah? We might not be there to help you guys next time but we live nearby on the other side if you guys ever need something or wanna stop by!” Gowon said. The two pairs said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. 

Less than an hour later, they finally reached a crossing and Jinsoul was surprised at how right Olivia was when she said that she would know once they got there. The statue was a massive boulder that looks like it’s been carved into and it’s painted in red with a single purple streak at the bottom.

“Well, I guess this is it! Let’s go!” Choerry said while marching ahead quickly. Jinsoul was about to stop her and ask her why she’s still going with her but she saw how nervous and tense the girl was being. 

“Hey… Are you okay? I know you never wanted to tell me where you were going but I didn’t think we would still be together at this point. I can take it from here if you have your own way to go.” Jinsoul said softly. The girl shook her head and walked forward and around the bend faster. 

Extremely confused, Jinsoul ran after her but when she turned the corner, her eyes widened and her mouth dropped (again). What she saw was nothing like she could have imagined. She knew the Dark Lord was an all powerful being and was probably filthy rich with an extensive hideout but _damn_ she did not expect this. (A/N: I’m sorry but imagine the Cathedral of Learning in Thailand, aka that extravagant building where Kim Lip is in the So What music video) 

“This is insane.” she whispered.

“Yeah, it’s so flashy right? Ridiculous.” Choerry simply stated with a snort. Jinsoul was about to ask her if she’s seen this building before but she clearly has since the girl started walking up the stairs towards the front.

"It's nice to be at home again, come in I'll make some tea." Choerry said while unlocking the door and walking inside.

_Wait what?_


	6. Welcome Home!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jinsoul finally meets who she's been looking for after all this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I'm honestly super surprised at how often I'm finding the motivation to write and update this story!! I hope you enjoy it :] Thank you so much for reading this!! <33

Jinsoul stood there frozen and slacked jawed while Choerry simply waltzed into the building. Reluctantly, she followed Choerry and if the outside was anything to gawk at, it was nothing compared to the inside. Everything was made out of marble, from the floors to the pillars to the ceiling. Continuing on through the house, Jinsoul didn’t seem to spot anything that screamed “The Dark Lord, ultimate pain bringer to anyone who gets in his way,” instead, she found what just looked like the typical rich person's house. 

“What do you want to drink? I’m sure you don’t want to have any of that desert water anymore.” Choerry said while walking to the fridge. Jinsoul felt as though she had just been hit with an entire airplane and didn’t even know how to reply. Is she actually in the Dark Lord’s _house_ right now? And Choerry knows him? And is possibly related to him? This was too much information to take in at once and the girl digging through the fridge seemed to have sensed this as she turned around and looked at Jinsol questioningly and sighed. 

“Look, Soul, I know this probably isn’t what you expected and I wanted to tell you sooner, I swear. It’s just that I was hoping that this wasn’t where you were going but as time went on and more and more clues came up to guide you here, it just got harder and harder to tell you. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you where I was going either but on the off chance that you were going anywhere else than here, I didn’t want you to know.” Choerry looked at her apologetically. 

Jinsoul’s brain was still kind of fried but just as she was about to reply, a voice coming from another part of the house and footsteps approaching could be heard.

“Yerim? Are you home? Who are you talking to?” At the sound of the voice, Choerry immediately showed a face of panic which mirrored the look Jinsoul also had on her face. 

“Crap, I didn’t think she would be home…” Choerry whispered. 

Before Jinsoul could ask who, a woman came into the kitchen and looked at Jinsoul sitting at her kitchen counter before looking at Choerry questioningly. Jinsoul didn’t make a sound and she wasn’t sure if it was because it felt like she just got caught sneaking into someone's house or if it was because this woman was single handedly the most beautiful human being she had ever laid her eyes on.

“Hi mom, I just got back just a few minutes ago actually. How are you?” Choerry said almost nervously. 

“I’m still recovering and relaxing so please don’t make a huge ruckus for the next week, okay?” 

“Yes ma’am. I brought you something!” Choerry said while she ran to her bag and pulled out the gift that White Dove had given her. Handing her mom an oddly shaped object wrapped in red paper, Choerry and Jinsoul watched nervously as the woman tore into the paper and pulled a figure of an owl that was seemingly made out of solid gold and was decorated with shiny red rubies. 

“Oh wow… Yerim this is beautiful. Where did you get this? This is one of the coolest things you’ve ever brought back, thank you so much.” The woman pulled Choerry in a hug while the girl had the proudest look on her face and it’s at that moment that the woman remembered Jinsoul’s presence and made eye contact with her. 

“And uhh… Who’s your friend?” Choerry let go of her mom and suddenly remembered that Jinsoul was just awkwardly just sitting there as well and looked at her apologetically. 

“Oh! This is Soul, she’s here looking for something- or someone actually.” 

“And who might that be?” 

“Soul, I want you to meet my mom… the Dark Lord.” Choerry said while nervously looking at Jinsoul. The woman furrowed her eyebrows at how her daughter referred to her using that title while Jinsoul was hit with another wave of shock that was somehow even bigger than the one she had experienced less than 20 minutes ago. 

The last thing she heard was Choerry (or Yerim?) asking her if she was okay before she saw black.

-

Jinsoul woke up with a wet towel on her forehead and laying on one of the most comfortable beds she has ever laid on. She looked around the room, confused as to where she was and when she spotted nothing but expensive looking furniture and the color red, her eyes immediately widened and she sat up. However, before she could fully formulate an escape plan, the door opened as the woman from earlier came in carrying a tray. 

“Oh, you’re awake. How do you feel?” She asked while putting the tray down on the table next to the bed.

Jinsoul sat there examining the woman closely but couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that the person in front of her is who she has been looking for this entire time. _This_ is the Dark Lord? _He_ was a _she_ this whole time? How stupid of her to think that a man would have been capable of what this woman has done. 

“Umm, I’m doing alright I guess, just kind of shaken up.” Jinsoul answered slowly. 

“Soul, is it? Yerim told me that you came all the way here to look for me? Look, I’m flattered but I don’t really meet with fans or whatever. I can sign a piece of paper or something for you but you can’t tell anyone you came here, alright?” At this, Jinsoul laughed.

“A _fan_? I’m not a fan of you, in fact I’m quite the opposite. There is nothing I would love more than to take you down right now.” 

“Ah, I see.” The woman sat there and thought for a moment. “Well, you better rest up before your trip home then. I can send some guards to accompany you if you’d like.” She said before getting up and walking towards the door again. 

“Wait what? No! I’m not going home until we settle this.” Jinsoul said, sitting up further.

“Settle what? I don’t know you.” 

“You might not know me but you surely remember my father. The ruling monarch of Bluewood?” Jinsoul snarled through her teeth. The woman’s face showed a look of confusion for a second before a look of realization flashed through and her mouth formed a small “o”.

“Yeah he put up one hell of a fight. How is he doing?” She asked nervously. If Jinsoul was being honest, she didn’t expect someone called “The Dark Lord” to be this unsure of themselves. 

“ _How is he doing?!_ You nearly KILLED him. He’s barely hanging on and has been humiliated. Not only do his people not trust him anymore, but either do neighboring civilizations and colonies.” The sound of Jinsoul’s voice and how broken it was made the woman feel more guilty than she already had.

“I’m so sorry for hurting him, Soul, I really am. But it had to be done. He was growing to be extremely powerful and I would have lost everything I have here if it were to continue. He was expanding his land at such a fast pace and I couldn’t let it happen any more.” 

“I challenge you to fight me.” Jinsoul determined.

“What? Absolutely not.” 

“Yes. I’m not leaving until we do. If I die then so be it, at least I tried but I can’t leave without knowing that I didn’t do everything I could to defend my father, our family, and my honor.”

“Very well… If you insist. I’m still extremely weak from fighting your father but if this is what you want. How does tomorrow evening sound?” Jinsoul nodded but hated the way the woman was talking like they were planning a casual hangout as opposed to a fight to the death. 

“Whenever, wherever.” she said while rolling her eyes. 

“Okay then… See you tomorrow then, Soul. Rest well” The woman said while walking towards the door. 

“See you then, Dark Lord.” 

“Please, just call me Jungeun.” she said with a small smile before finally leaving and letting the door close behind her, leaving Jinsoul to sit there in an empty room, with nothing but her thoughts. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is little bit shorter than the others and I'm sorry :( but the next ones are going to be more action packed and has more of the actual plot than actually just getting there unlike the past two chapters :] I hope you have a great day/night! <33


	7. Do You Really Love Me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Choerry shares a meaningful talk with Jinsoul and Jungeun to get a huge weight lifted off her shoulders. Jinsoul faces what she's been training for almost her entire life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :] I kind of struggled with this chapter but I'm learning to be more confident in myself and my work so please know that although I am still trying to improve my writing style and content, I would never publish something that I'm not proud of or have confidence in. I really hope you enjoy this, we're almost done with the story I swear, I have it planned out to be 10 chapters which I think is a good length. Any more would just be dragging it out too far in my opinion. I hope you read and enjoy it until then and all the way through :]

The sun had barely come up and Jinsoul was already in a giant field next to the house, or more like fortress, swinging her sword around. She was swinging back and forth with all her might, diving around and spinning in all sorts of directions. 

“Wow, what did the air ever do to you?” 

Jinsoul turned around to see Choerry approaching her, still in her pajamas and holding out two glasses of water. She handed Jinsoul one and sat down on the ground, watching her closely. Jinsoul realized she hadn’t seen Choerry since she passed out yesterday and she wasn’t sure on how to feel. Should she be mad at Choerry for not telling her sooner? It wouldn’t be fair to the girl though. Should she keep acting caring and protective over Choerry? But she’s about to fight the girl's mom. She knew she couldn’t blame the small girl for anything and she knew she couldn’t stay mad at the little sunshine anyway.

“Just trying to warm up and get some practice in before later.” Jinsoul sighed and sat down across from the other girl, drinking her water. 

“Are you really going to fight her? She might be weaker and tired right now but she’s still strong.” 

“Yes, I have to. My father can’t do it himself and someone needs to redeem him and get his honor back.” 

“Does he want his honor back though?”

“What do you mean? Of course he does.” Jinsoul looked at the girl like she was crazy. 

“Did he say so? How was he acting last time you saw him?” 

“Not exactly. He kept saying that he needs rest to recover and that he’s going to focus on the political side of ruling over the people instead of the war and conquering side.” 

“Sounds to me like that’s how he’s going to get his own honor back. Are you sure that this isn’t about you?” 

“Me? How can this be about me? I’m not the one who almost got blown out of existence by your mother.” 

“I haven’t known you for very long but from what I know, it seems like you’re using this journey to claim _your_ honor and praise. You want him to see that you’re capable of being the person he’s always wanted you to be and more and that you’re more than enough.” Choerry simply said. 

The realization hit Jinsoul like a brick wall. She had always been going above and beyond, trying her best to impress her father but almost nothing would get her the results she wanted. At most, she would get a simple head nod or a “good” but nothing ever seemed genuine and it didn’t nearly make her feel loved and appreciated. Her mom was her biggest supporter and always gave her love but she wasn't the one who was pushing her to be better. She wasn’t aware that a lone tear had escaped her eyes until Choerry handed her a tissue. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring something up that was sensitive and hurtful.” the girl said sincerely.

“No, it’s not you, don’t worry. But you’re right. I did this for him and he doesn’t even care! He barely even wished me a goodbye. I’ve made it this far but I thought it would feel more relieving and rewarding than this but if anything, I feel more pressured and confused.” 

“Trust me, I know how you feel.” Choerry said while patting Jinsoul on the shoulder.

“You do?” 

“I mean maybe not exactly, but to a certain extent, definitely. My mom and I don’t exactly have the greatest relationship either.” 

“I’m sorry to hear that. She seemed pretty happy when you gave her your gift yesterday and I’m here if you want to talk about it but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.” 

“It’s fine, it's just that it’s always been recognition and praise first before anything else, you know? Ever since I could remember, my mom has always been extremely passionate about her power and how she could make it grow and use it to make sure that our land stays ours. My grandpa was the exact same way and I’m sure that generation before that was like that too but for some reason, I don’t feel the same way. I value love and loyalty way more than land and power. When my mom found out that your dad and his men were expanding even further and getting even closer to our land, she freaked out and made plans for weeks about how to stop him. I guess you know what happened with that but my mom is genuinely not a bad person, she does what she has to do to protect our land here but she would never willingly cause pain and suffering to others.” The thought of White Dove and the story of how her wife died has haunted Choerry ever since she heard it and although she doesn’t know the full story, she knows that if it was her mom who caused it, it wasn’t done solely to cause people pain. 

“You mean that there have been more Dark Lords? Before your mom?” 

“Of course, the title of Dark Lord goes back for generations and gets passed down. You didn’t think my mom is like a thousand years old did you?” Choerry said while chuckling a bit.

“I don’t know! I don’t know much of anything anymore honestly! My brain is a giant pile of mush at this point.” Jinsoul groaned while flinging her body backwards to lay down. 

“I get that, is there anything you’re sure of?” Choerry said while also laying down next to Jinsoul.

“I know that I challenged an almighty being to a fight without knowing what she’s capable of. I know that I care for and value you more than I thought I would, and I know that my father’s destiny isn’t mine.” Jinsoul sighed. 

“Aww you care about me? That’s cute, thanks mom.” 

Jinsoul shoved Choerry on her shoulder hard and made a sound of disgust. “I’m not your mom you weirdo!” they laughed.

“But honestly, I’m sorry about your relationship with your mom. You still have time to repair it and make it better, right? You might not want to become a strong, powerful Dark Lord like her but you can always be strong and powerful in your own way.” 

“Even if I do it with love?”

“ _Especially_ if you do it with love.” The pair smiled at each other and took in the peaceful silence before Choerry spoke up again. 

“I love my mom and I know what she does is important to her and so many other people but I just wish she was my mom, not my mom the Dark Lord. There have been countless times where she’s left me here or whenever we’re doing something because something came up. IT makes me feel like I’m a burden sometimes or that she doesn’t think I’m good enough to be her daughter.”

“You are enough, Choerry. She might not show it but I can promise you that her life wouldn’t be as great without you in it. I can definitely say that about myself, you’ve brought a sunshine into my life that I didn’t know I needed. Meeting you has been a blessing and in more ways than one, I wouldn’t be here without you.” The two shared a genuine heartwarming moment before Choerry thought it would be a great idea to ruin it.

“I know you think my mom is hot.” At this, Jinsoul let out the loudest, most exaggerated gasp of her life.

“I do not!” 

“Yes you do, I can tell. The way you stared at her when she walked into the room and how quickly you passed out when I introduced her to you has no heterosexual explanation.” 

“I was just so shocked that your mom is the Dark Lord! And beautiful! You are way too observant for your own good, little Choerry.” 

The younger girl giggled and looked at the sky thoughtfully while Jinsoul stood up and dusted off her pants.

“Now if you’ll please excuse me, I need to practice more before tonight so I can take down your mom.” She said as she walked further away with her sword.

“Maybe you should take her out instead!” Choerry called out to her.

“SHUT UP! DON’T YOU HAVE THINGS TO DO?!” 

-

Jungeun was standing on one of the balconies, watching from afar at how Jinsoul was practicing for their fight later and if she was being honest, she felt a little bad for her. She clearly had no idea what Jungeun is capable of and trying to take her down with a simple sword? Child’s play, honestly. She took another swig of her coffee and walked back inside and saw her daughter sitting in the living room.

“I told the servants to leave you food before I left, why didn’t you eat it?”

“What? What food?” Choerry stopped what she was doing and turned to look at her mom, confused.

“I left you dinner before I left so you wouldn’t go hungry but it was still here untouched when I came back.” 

Unbelievable. Choerry was gone for almost almost 2 weeks and her mom didn’t even notice? She shouldn’t be surprised at this point and let out a small sigh. 

“I wasn’t here, I went to go visit Yeojin. I literally got home yesterday and was gone for like two weeks.” She said while returning to playing with the string she was holding earlier.

“Oh… I didn’t notice, I’ve been quite busy.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Choerry said under her breath. 

“How are you doing on your training?” 

“Fine.” 

“Really? Because your teacher told me he hasn’t seen you in a long time.” Busted. Choerry sighed and turned around to face her mom and gave up on whatever she was doing.

“Yes because I don’t like him. All he wants is for me to grow in a way that’s toxic and only for the purpose of taking over the world or something.” 

“What do you mean? Is taking over the world something you don’t want? Have you forgotten what family you’re in?” 

“I didn’t ask to be born, mom. Yes, I want to grow my powers and learn how to control them but I want to use it for actual _good_ things, not just protecting this place but protecting other people as well. What’s the point of having control over such an extensive amount of land and people when they despise and hurt from it so much?” Choerry spat out. 

“Do you think that I want to do this either? It has always been train, get stronger, conquer, and sleep for almost my entire life too, Yerim. We have a duty to fulfill and those asshats on the other side isn’t making it easy.”

“It’s much easier than you think it is.” Choerry challenged, feeling braver. 

“What’s that supposed to mean? Where’s the answer?” Jungeun is honestly confused for so many reasons right now. Yerim has _never_ talked back to her, so her own daughter being so direct at her, especially with this kind of fire, was honestly scaring her right now.

“It’s Soul! The answer to everything you’ve been missing is right outside right now! She literally walked through the front door like a gift from God himself. Her family being your main enemy is a huge advantage for you but you’re so keen on doing things by yourself that you never have room to let anybody else in! Not even me and I’m your daughter!” At this point, Choerry was starting to cry and Jungeun was floored.

“Yerim… I honestly had no idea you felt that way…” 

“Of course you wouldn’t! You didn’t even notice when I was gone for almost two weeks! Honestly, Soul has acted more like a parent and guardian in a week than you have in the past decade.” Choerry said before getting up and speed walking out of the room. 

Jungeun just stood there with her heart broken. How could she have been so blind to her own child hurting this much because of her? She hadn’t even noticed that she started crying until she felt her tears at the edge of her lips. She wiped them and started to clean the mess that Choerry had made on the living room table. She bent over and started to pick up the assortment of beads and string but when she spotted a piece of string the words “WORLDS BEST MOM ❤️” spelled out in different colored beads, she realized that the young girl must have been making her a bracelet before she got interrupted.

Jungeun sat down and started to sob at how she could have possibly been blessed with the greatest child in the history of the world but didn’t even realize it until now. Her daughter had always tried to show her as much love as possible from the gifts she brought back on her trips to little things like making her breakfast in the morning or helping her relax after a tiring day. She knew that she didn't deserve Choerry when she couldn't even do as much as pay attention to her own daughter. Jungeun cried as she put the bracelet on herself, now more determined than anything else in her life to make the words on the beads be true. 

-

Later that evening, two women were standing facing each other in a large open field. The sun was starting to set and there was a light breeze blowing. Choerry was standing on one of the balconies of the house, a safe distance away watching nervously as her mom and Jinsoul were staring at each other from about 50 feet apart. The girl wasn't sure on who was rooting for, she just wished that neither of them got seriously hurt. Both of them were strong but for different reasons so Choerry had no choice but to sit back with her popcorn and watch. 

“Are you sure you want to do this, Soul? You can always leave now and no one will speak a word of it ever again.” Jungeun tried.

“Don’t mock me. I’ve been ready for this since birth, I’m not backing out now.” 

“I’m not mocking or taunting you, I’m giving you a choice.” 

“I’ve made up my mind already, I have to do this.” Jinsoul said determinedly. She had her sword in her hands, already raised but she noticed that Jungeun had no weapons and wondered if the other woman was just going to give up the second they started. 

“If you insist. As soon as the sun sets, it will get dark and the lights surrounding this field will automatically turn on, that’s when we’ll start.” Jungeun called out to her. Jinsoul nodded. 

It took about less than 5 minutes before the sun had fully set and Jinsoul was staring death lasers at Jungeun the entire time while the other woman just looked at her. Soon, the sky went dark and before Jinsoul could process the pitch black, giant bright lights suddenly flashed on like a stadium all around her and the area was illuminated. She looked around amazed but as soon as she brought her eyes to where Jungeun stood, the woman wasn’t there. Where did she-

“Looking for something?” 

Jinsoul whipped around and saw Jungeun standing close behind her. How did she- 

_WOOSH_

Jinsoul felt her body get thrown with the force of something that felt like a tornado and she landed on the ground about 15 feet away with a thud. She gave herself little time to recover and immediately stood up, sword raised and charged at the Dark Lord, screaming her lungs out. It was now or never.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this, it means the world <3 Have a great day/night!! See you in the next chapter, it's going to be the fight, I promise!! :]


	8. Haha Nooo Jungeun Don’t Kill Jinsoul, You’re Soooo Sexy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What? Me not updating in the middle of the night? That's crazyyyy. Thank you for reading this! I hope you enjoy it and that it lives up to your expectations. I'm sorry for any typos/mistakes!! I try to catch as many as I can before publishing but it's possible for me to miss a few but the fault is all mine.

Jinsoul ran, she charged straight at the Dark Lord herself, sword pointed forward, lungs almost bursting from how loud she was screaming. However, just before the tip of her sword could hit the other woman, the Dark Lord formed some sort of black sphere in her hands and threw it at Jinsoul’s chest and she was knocked back again. Before she could get back up, more dark energy, in the form of spikes this time, was pierced through her body and she felt like she was about to throw up. 

“Did you just IMPALE ME? WHAT ARE YOU?!” She struggled to gasp out.

“I’m not called the Dark Lord for no reason, Soul. I can control the dark energy around us and don’t be silly, I wouldn’t puncture you. Think of the energy as a gas that’s flowing through you. If I really wanted to kill you, you wouldn’t last more than five minutes.” Jungeun said, rolling her eyes.

“Don’t look down on me! Give me everything you’ve got, I’m not a coward!” Jinsoul cried out, slowly getting to her feet.

“I’m not looking down on you nor do I think you’re a coward. I think you coming here and challenging me in the first place is commendable and brave enough. I just don’t want to beat you up, it seems like you do that to yourself enough.”

Okay ouch. Jinsoul expected to get attacked physically but emotionally too? That’s rough. She stood up and raised her sword and figured that if the other woman could play mind games, so could she.

“You don’t wanna beat me up? Because you don’t want to make me feel bad about myself? That’s funny, you had no problem doing it to your own daughter. What’s the difference with me?” 

Choerry had overheard that part and let out a gasp. Even from quite a distance away, she could sense the dark energy growing around them. “Oh no. Soul what did you do?” she whispered. 

Although Jinsoul was riled up and mad, she knew that she had crossed a line when she physically saw something in Jungeun shift. The woman’s eyes went dark, literally almost black and as she raised her hands, Jinsoul felt the world get darker, and not because it was nighttime.

“Wait… I shouldn’t have said that, honestly. I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to bring something so sensitive up and it was a low blow-” 

_OOF_

Jinsoul feels waves and waves of force hitting her in the form of punches, blasts, cuts and beams. Her body is being flung around and she feels the life being sucked out of her with each passing second. Her mind didn’t even process what was happening before she was hit and thrown to the ground again. After several long minutes of being tossed like a rag doll, her movement stopped and she looked to notice that the Dark Lord must have tired herself out. Jinsoul took the opportunity to go on the offensive. 

The two went back and forth for what felt like hours with Jinsoul being to hold her own more than Jungeun or Choerry expected and Jinsoul thanked the gods for how long she spent her life training. She was able to land a couple solid hits on the other woman using whatever she could get her hands on, not just her sword while ducking and dodging whatever was being thrown at her as best as she can. As time went on, both fighters were quickly losing their energy and although Jungeun was stronger in almost every way, she still hadn’t fully recovered from fighting Jinsoul’s dad who at that point was one of the strongest people in the world. 

While Jungeun was distracted, Jinsoul used the hilt of her sword to knock her back and used the blade to leave a slice on the woman's arm. Jungeun hissed out in pain but before she could retaliate, Jinsoul kicked her hard in the stomach and sent her to the ground. Having the upper hand, Jinsoul tries to capitalize on her advantage by sitting on Jungeun and landing a solid punch onto the woman's face. Before she could hit her again, she looked into her eyes and saw fury, darkness, and… vulnerability? 

The one second she took to falter was enough for Jungeun to lift her hands up again and blast Jinsoul away with a huge spiral of dark energy. Jinsoul laid on the ground, feeling the air leave her lungs and questioning her life decisions. She looked and saw the Dark Lord slowly trudging toward her, clearly struggling as well. She watched in fear as the woman raised her hands above her hand and used whatever remaining energy she had left to form a huge bomb of energy above her head and aiming it at Jinsoul. Choerry, who was watching intently up until this point, closed her eyes and looked away as she watched her mom unleash her full power onto her opponent. Jinsoul had lost.

-

Choerry rushed down to the field after hearing the noise die down to see not only Jinsoul’s body lying lifeless on the ground, but also her moms. She rushed to both of them and shook them and after a bit, Jungeun woke up, although extremely wiped and groggy, and looked up to see her daughter staring at her worriedly. She pulled Choerry into a hug and sighed. 

“I love you. I’m so sorry that I didn’t acknowledge it before but I love you so much. I understand why you hate me so much and I don’t blame you for it. I’ll do so much better from now on and I mean it. You’re worth the world to me, Yerim, I’ll never risk anything if it means losing you ever again.” She cried while holding her daughter in her arms. 

“I never hated you mom and I could never. I know what you do is important, I just wish you would take some time and take care of yourself too. I would be nothing without you and you hurting yourself hurts me in the process. But I love you too and I’m glad you’re okay.” Choerry smiled through the tears in her eyes and hugged her mom again. “Uhh… but what about…” 

They both looked at Jinsoul still lying there, not moving. 

“She’s still alive, don’t worry, I didn’t kill her. I only knocked her out for the time being and she’ll be able to wake up and fully recover if we take care of her and reverse whatever the hell it was I did. She’s gonna be in a hell of a lot of pain and will be nauseous for days but she’ll probably be okay, she’s tough as hell honestly and I didn’t expect it from her. Come on, help me get her inside to the infirmary.” 

Choerry and Jungeun were thankful for being superhumans at this point and carrying Jinsoul into the house felt like carrying a baby. They laid her on one of the beds in the infirmary and checked all of her vital signs and to their relief, Jinsoul was indeed still alive, just unconscious and with a weak heartbeat. 

“Well, I guess now we wait until she wakes up. I’m going to speed up the process a bit by removing all the dark energy I blasted into her but I’m going to have to do it slowly and it’s gonna take some time, probably a couple days. I don’t want to put her body into more shock than it already has and hinder it from fully recovering.” Jungeun sighed while looking Jinsoul. Apparently, she was staring a little bit too long because Choerry spoke up. 

“You think she’s pretty and you like her, don’t you?” Choerry said with a slight smirk on her face.

“ _What?!_ Of course not, why would you think that?!” Jungeun said a little more defensively than she should’ve.

“One, you immediately tried to take care of her the first time she fainted and you’ve never cared for other people, no offense. Two, you didn’t automatically kick her out and throw her off the mountain back to where she came from like you would’ve done with anyone else. Three, you didn’t kill her in your battle even though you’re totally capable but you decided to spare her for some reason. Four, every time you look at her, there is some sort of energy.” Choerry deduced.

“I’m the Dark Lord, Yerim, I always have a certain energy.” Jungeun rolled her eyes.

“No, I mean a gay energy.” 

“KIM YERIM IF YOU DON’T STOP RIGHT NOW!” 

Choerry held her hands up defensively and chuckled before backing away and towards the door. 

“I’m just saying… you barely even look at people, let alone like _that._ Much to think about.” She said before finally leaving the room. Jungeun rolled her eyes at her child and watched her leave before looking at Jinsoul again for another second. 

_I mean… she IS beautiful... Wait what? I can’t think like this right now, I need to rest._ Jungeun thought before checking on Jinsoul one last time before leaving the room and retreating to her own. 

-

Over the course of the next week and half, Jungeun stayed by Jinsoul’s side working diligently to focus on healing the girl and making sure that her body was healing properly. The physical damage she suffered was brutal and it looked like the girl had tried to fight a hurricane and a tornado at the same time. Luckily, there had been no major internal damages and she would only have to work on healing her on the outside. 

Jungeun also had to extract any extra dark matter that was inside her body, who knew what harboring that kind of substance could do to the normal human? Jinsoul looked like she had gone through hell and back, and probably felt like it too, while Jungeun had suffered only cuts and bruises. After about two weeks of treatment and resting, Jinsoul finally woke up. 

She wasn’t sure what time it was but it was definitely nighttime considering how dark it was outside the window. She looked over and the clock read 3:30am. Not really remembering where she was and the state of her body right now, she tried to get up and stand but when she felt the sharpest, most intense pain shoot up throughout her body, she let out a scream so loud, she swore she woke up the entire country. 

_Where am I? Why do I feel like an entire building just collapsed on me? Oh wait… I was fighting that_ _beautiful_ _brunette bitch. Did I lose? It feels like it but if I lost then how am I still alive?_ Jinsoul would have laid there with only her thoughts if she didn’t hear footsteps rushing toward her from down the hall and the door bursting open. She turned her head to see the one and only Dark Lord standing in her presence, walking in the room and turning the light on. 

“You’re awake.” the women breathed out.

“Yeah? Did you expect me to die or something? Well I have news for you lady, I’m a bad bitch, you can’t kill me!” Jisoul said while still laying down but swinging her arms around, punching the air. Jungeun rolled her eyes and moved to stand closer to the bed.

“No, I didn’t expect you to die. I’m the one who healed and treated you, nut head. But you would have died if I had left you out in that field.” 

Jinsoul wasn’t sure on how to feel. The person she thought was her destiny and mortal enemy helping her? It couldn't be. However, she was sure that her body hurts like a bitch right now and she would love nothing more than to pass out again. She looked back at Jungeun and found the woman already staring back at her. Feeling her face heat up, she didn’t have time to come up with an excuse before she processed the state of her face. 

“Whoa, what happened to your face?” Jinsoul blurted out. 

“What? What do you mean?” Jungeun suddenly felt insecure about her face and cupped it in an attempt to slightly hide. 

“No!! Oh my gosh I’m so dumb, I didn’t mean it like that!! I mean you’re beautiful, absolutely beautiful, please don’t hide. I just meant that there’s a huge cut on your eyebrow and your lip looks like it was split open. Did I do that? I’m so sorry, that must hurt.” Jinsoul said while reaching up to trace Jungeun’s face and this time, it was her turn to blush. 

“You’re sorry for what you did? I should be the one apologizing to you! You’re significantly better now but you should have seen the state you were in right after the fight. I’m way better off than you are, I promise. Speaking of which, let me get you an ice pack, your ribs need it.” 

Jinsoul softly touched the bruise on Jungeun’s left cheekbone before retracting her hand to let the woman leave the room. She drank water from the cup next to her bed and looked at her body. There were bruises everywhere and every time she moved, her muscles were crying at her to stop. Jungeun returned and handed her an ice pack while Jinsoul slightly moved over to let the other woman sit on the bed. 

“Don’t worry about me, one of the best things about being a supernatural being is that we heal insanely fast. You did quite a bit of damage on me but nothing that time won’t fix in about another week or so.” Jungeun reassured.

“Wait are you serious? That explains why Choerry healed so quickly when we were in the desert…” Jinsoul thought out loud. 

“What? Yerim got hurt? When?” Jungeun suddenly felt panic course through her veins.

“When we were in the desert, we ran into some mutants and she slashed by one and had a huge gash in her abdomen. I tried my best to stop the bleeding and prevent infection but she got worse that same night. Luckily after some medication from some nice medics I found and rest, she healed practically overnight. This explains why though.” Jinsoul explained. Jungeun only nodded and scolded herself internally for not knowing that her daughter had been in danger and potentially in a lot of pain without her knowing. This is what Yerim must have meant when she said that the other woman acted more like her guardian more than Jungeun ever had. Jinsoul must have sensed some kind of internal struggle in Jungeun and spoke up again. _God, for someone named the Dark Lord, she doesn’t seem to be emotionless or evil._

“Thank you for uhh.. Saving me and everything. I know I probably looked incredibly immature coming into your house demanding a fight and all that. It must have looked like I was going through some kind of rage induced psychotic breakdown.” Jungeun slightly laughed and Jinsoul pouted. “Hey, don’t laugh at me! I’m trying to be sincere here.” She said as she grabbed Jungeun’s hand to make her stop laughing. 

“I’m not laughing at you, you big baby, it was cute. But I understand where you were coming from, if anyone were to hurt someone in my family that way I would have done the same. Which by the way, I really am sorry about your father. I didn’t want it to come to that but I had to keep this place safe. I really do hope he’s recovering well but I also hope he knows to never fuck with me again.” 

“I’m sure he’s gotten the message.” Jinsoul giggled. She needed to move her hand to wipe the tear that came out of her eye from laughing so much when they both noticed that they were still holding hands. They both quickly retracted their hands and an awkward silence ensued before Jungeun cleared her throat. 

“Well, I’m gonna let you rest some more, I’m sure everything still hurts so I’ll be back to check on you in the morning. I mean if that’s okay, if you’re uncomfortable I can send someone else or even Yerim to make sure you’re doing better. She’s still young but she’s getting pretty good at medical things and I trust her so you don’t need to worry-” 

“Hey Dark Lord. It’s fine. I would love it if you came to see me in the morning.” Jinsoul said while beaming. 

Jungeun nodded and let out a sigh of relief that she was saved from rambling further before getting up from the bed and walking to the door. 

“I told you to not call me that! Jungeun is fine. Goodnight, Soul.” 

“Jinsoul. My name is Jung Jinsoul, you can call me that.” Jinsoul said, smiling softly. 

“Okay, goodnight Jinsoul. See you in the morning.” Jinsoul nodded and threw her a thumbs up which made her giggle. 

“Goodnight, _Jungeun._ ” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! We're getting closer to the end, I can feel it in my bones. Also, I had a smallll period of time where I accidentally killed Jinsoul with how I wrote this... Oops. Shoutout to Morgan for helping me get my head out of my ass though <3 Lipsoul seem to be getting closer, don't they? It would be a shame... if someone were to ruin it.... damn. Anyway have a great day/night!! ;)


	9. Family Isn’t Always Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haaiii I hope you like this one :] we're getting really really close to the end!

Over the next two weeks, Jinsoul was able to recover quickly and regain use of her entire body. All with Jungeun by her side the entire time. Every morning they went on a walk to get her legs used to walking, every afternoon they went swimming to get her arms and legs stronger, and every night they watched a movie together to “rehabilitate Jinsoul’s mind to make sure she didn’t lose any brain cells.” Choerry thinks they just want to sit as close as possible to each other for 2 hours every day. 

They fell into a nice routine and Jinsoul even started joining the two for dinner. Jinsoul definitely grew up privileged, her father ruling almost the entire country had it’s advantages but she hadn’t experienced luxury like the Kim’s do. Everything she could ever want and need could be brought to her immediately by the various people who worked for Jungeun and sometimes, things would be given to her without her even asking. Like right now, she had barely sat down at the dinner table because her cup was filled with water and delicious food was placed in front of her. 

“So, what are your guys’ plans?” Choerry asked, digging into her food.

“Probably just some weight training tomorrow, Jinsoul is getting strong but I know she can get stronger.” Jungeun said while smiling at Jinsoul. The latter blushed and looked down at her food while slightly nodding. Choerry internally gagged.

“No I mean for the future, like long term. I don’t expect Jinsoul to stay here forever, even if we both want her to. If she does stay here for a long time then what’s going to happen? Are you two going to get married or something?” Choerry knew exactly what she was doing when she said that. She knew both women had some kind of feelings bubbling for one another underneath and she had to do something about the tension in the room before it kills everyone within a 100 mile radius. 

This made Jungeun choke on her food and Jinsoul freeze. The two had never really said anything about what kind of relationship they had. Sure, they spend all day every day together and use every opportunity to hold hands or each other but that’s what friends do, right? 

“Yerim honey don’t ask questions like that. Jinsoul is our guest and she can stay here as long as she needs to. The recovery process takes a long time and even though she’s doing amazing, she still has some ways to go.” Jungeun scolded.

“No but she’s right.” Jinsoul said.

“What?” 

“I am? I mean of course I am!” Jungeun and Yerim said at the same time.

“I mean yeah, I have to go back at some point, right? I can’t stay here forever, I greatly appreciate everything you guys have provided for me here but my family is on the other side. I came here solely to take down the Dark Lord and although I didn’t exactly do that, I still found some sort of inner peace and consider it a success. I’m not sure what I’m going to do or what’s going to happen when I return home though, I don’t want anything to do with my father and his reign if I’m being honest.” Jinsoul sighed.

“Then don’t.” Choerry said simply.

“Don’t what?” Jinsoul asked.

“Don’t follow in his footsteps and become some kind of terrifying ruler. It will probably be extremely difficult but can’t you like cut yourself off from your family or something? Live your own life how you want to?” This question spiked the curiosity for both of the older women. Jungeun wondered if Choerry was referring to herself when asking while Jinsoul wondered if she would ever have the guts to do so. 

“You mean like renouncing my title? I guess I could… They can’t really stop me since I would no longer be a part of the family then. I don’t know if that’s what I want to do though, I would be giving up a lot. Not just the title but my whole family and protecting the people they rule over.” Jinsoul said.

“I don’t really know the rules of it all, it was just a suggestion, I’m sorry.” Choerry looked at her apologetically. 

“No, it’s alright! I think you’re right. What do you think, Jungeun?” Up until this point, the woman hadn’t said a single word since the question came up. She was kind of paying attention but she was also lost in her own thoughts.

“I think you should do whatever makes you the happiest and what’s best for you. You know Yerim and I will support you no matter the direction you choose.” Jungeun reassured while Choerry nodded. 

“Aww thanks, I love you guys so much.” Jinsoul said as she pulled the other two into a hug. The rest of dinner was filled with normal conversation and they all gathered in the living room to watch a movie cuddled up together before they all fell asleep on the couch. 

-

It was the middle of the night when Jinsoul had slowly woken up. She had fallen asleep easily earlier and when she looked down, she saw Choerry cuddled up to her on her left side and Jungeun doing the same on her right. She sighed contently while carefully pulling the two closer to her and rested her head on top of Jungeun's. 

Jinsoul tried to go back to sleep but she knew that she wouldn’t be able to because of her thoughts that woke her up in the first place. She thought about Choerry’s words earlier and her current predicament. She really enjoyed staying with the two of them, loved it even, but she couldn’t just leave her old life behind without telling anyone. Her father would be in for quite a shock if he were to somehow invade this area one day and find his daughter living with the Dark Lord and her daughter. 

Speaking of the Dark Lord, Jinsoul didn’t know what to think of her relationship with the woman under her arm right now. She was pretty positive that she had developed feelings for the woman the first time she walked into the room after Jinsoul had woken up from fainting. Those feelings had only started growing and no matter how hard she tried (which wasn’t very much), she couldn’t get those feelings to go away. Jinsoul laid there for what felt like hours, eventually watching as the sun came up, before she finally decided on what she wanted to do. 

A couple minutes after Jinsoul decided her own fate, the head on her shoulder started to stir awake. The woman woke up slightly groggy and confused and when she scanned her surroundings, she realized they must have fallen asleep before the movie had ended. It was then that she realized that she was currently hugging someone’s waist and she quickly yelped jerked up to see Jinsoul slightly giggling at her.

“Good morning.” Jinsoul whispered in order to not wake Choerry while still laughing at how the almighty Dark Lord looked so cute in the morning. 

“Morning, you’re up early. Sorry if I hurt your shoulder.” Jungeun answered while rubbing her eyes. 

“You didn’t, it’s okay. And yeah, I had some thinking to do.” 

“Really? What were you thinking about?” Jungeun said as she resumed her position cuddling with Jinsoul, the older woman's arm automatically going around her shoulders. 

“You…” Luckily for Jungeun, their positions prevented Jinsoul from seeing how hard she was blushing. 

“Shut up, I’m being serious.” She said while starting to play with the ends of Jinsoul’s blonde hair. 

“So was I! Okay well maybe not only you, I was thinking about what I should do. With my future and family and stuff.” 

“Really? That’s huge, what do you think you’re going to do?” Jungeun asked nervously. She knew that their time together had to end at one point or another. She highly doubted that Jinsoul would want to stay with someone like her, someone who has caused so much pain to so many people, even if she didn’t want to. The thought of returning to her life without Jinsoul deeply saddened her and she could only distract herself by imagining a future brighter than Jinsoul’s hair. 

“I think… It’s time for me to rewrite my own destiny. I thought my destiny was finding you and destroying you and that would suddenly make me feel better and make everything okay again. But I was so so wrong about that.” Jinsoul said quietly. That slightly hurt Jungeun and she was preparing for Jinsoul to tell her that she was going to go back to her side. She didn’t have much time to do that though.

“I’m going back to my father. I’ve been gone for so long and I need to go back, at least to let him know that I’m still alive.” Jinsoul said while brushing her fingers through Jungeun’s hair. Jungeun was about to voice her support for the older girl before she started speaking again. 

“I’m going to renounce my title though. I don’t want to live or associate with someone who doesn’t care for me, his people, or anyone but himself and his power. I did this whole journey hoping he would notice how much I do for him and how much I’ve done for him my entire life but I doubt he even cares whether or not I made it here or not.” Jinsoul said, almost painfully. 

This shocked Jungeun and she looked up to make sure the other woman wasn’t lying to her but she saw nothing but the truth and compassion in her eyes. She wasn’t sure what that would mean for them but she knew that this wasn’t an easy decision to make.

“I don’t know what to say… I’m so proud of you, first of all. I know family is extremely important to you so this must have been difficult.” 

“Yeah it was, but I want to do what’s best for me now. Speaking of which, I really think that everything here, this place, you, Choerry, has made me happier and feel more significant in such little time than my entire life back in the dreaded house.” At some point during her thinking, Jinsoul eventually realized that the love and warmth she receives from Jungeun and Choerry is worth more than any amount her father can give her. 

“What are you saying?” Jungeun asked, trying to stop herself from getting her hopes up.

“I’m saying I want to stay. With you, and with Choerry. That is if you’ll have me of course. I definitely wouldn’t want to intrude on your lives more than I already have. Maybe doing some travelling will be good for me instead. Forget I even said anything-” 

Her rambling was cut off when a hand cupped her cheek and Jungeun pulled her down to kiss her. The angle was slightly awkward and they couldn’t properly breathe but neither of them would have had it any other way. 

Jungeun kept her hand cupping Jinsoul’s cheek and kissed her until they had to breathe before she finally let go. 

“I would love it if you stayed.” She said while looking into Jinsoul’s shining eyes. The other woman simply nodded and gave her another kiss. 

“I’ll leave after breakfast, the sooner I go and get this over with the better.” Jinsoul sighed. She was really dreading having to go all the way back since it took her forever to get here but before she could even complain about it, Jungeun stood up and walked to the call box to call some of her servants.

“I’ll go with you. We can take the carriage, it’s much safer and faster and you won’t have to worry about those mutants or anything. We should be able to get there in less than two days.” 

_Wait what? They had means of transportation this whole time and Choerry didn’t even mention it? What a brat!_

“I appreciate you so much, you know that?” Jinsoul said while smiling at Jungeun who was calling the servants to prepare the carriage for a trip. 

“I do but it wouldn’t hurt you to say it more often.” Jungeun said before winking at her and going off to the bathroom. Jinsoul sat back and sighed happily while remembering that she still had Choerry laying on the left side of her body. 

“God, I love you little one but you sleep like a boulder.” Jinsoul said while pulling the little girl closer to her again and making sure she’s comfortable. 

Choerry, who had woken up the first time Jungeun had yelped, kept her eyes closed and simply smirked. 

_Mission success._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at me not being mean and leaving it on a cliffhanger for once <3


	10. Who am I, who am I, who am I, who am I?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jinsoul and Jungeun figure out their identities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is LONG. We're finally at the end omg :(( this journey has been wonderful! Thank you to everyone who read and commented, it means the entire world <3 Lipsoul is the best ship and you cannot tell me otherwise :]

Jinsoul sat in a carriage, waiting to leave to return home while Jungeun was taking care of some last minute arrangements. 

“I left you food again, promise to eat it this time? And don’t leave the property until we get back. It shouldn’t take longer than a couple days.”Jungeun said while hugging Yerim goodbye. 

“Yes, mom. I won’t go anywhere, promise! Just come back quick and be safe!” 

“We will, don’t worry.” She gave her one last hug before joining Jinsoul in the carriage. Choerry waved to Jinsoul who waved back before she went back inside. 

Jinsoul was sprawled out on the floor of the carriage with blankets surrounding her and Jungeun giggled at how much of a baby she was being. She didn’t even get the chance to properly sit down when Jinsoul pulled her down to lay with her. 

“Jinsoul stop, I need to lead the carriage drivers and guards in the right direction.” Jungeun laughed but was not moving to get up. Jinsoul finally let her go and watched as she shouted some commands through the window at the carriage drivers and they were off. 

“You should probably try to get some sleep before we get there, you barely slept last night.” Jungeun said while settling her own things.

“You’re right but I have a lot on my mind and I don’t think I can. Why can’t we just make out instead?”

“As much as I would love to do that, I think it would be best if you sorted out your thoughts _before_ we get there so you don’t march in there with an empty head.” Jungeun laughed at the way Jinsoul pouted. 

“I’ve always been no thoughts, head empty. What difference does it make now?” Jinsoul said, staring at the ceiling. 

“The difference is that this is probably one of the biggest decisions you’ll ever have to make, if not the biggest. I want you to be sure that this is what you want to do and that it’s not something you’re going to regret in the future.” 

Jinsoul shook her head. “This is what I want, I’ve been thinking of an escape for awhile. I might not have a family after this but I’ll have my freedom and hopefully that will be enough to give me some peace of mind for once.” 

Jungeun moved to sit beside Jinsoul and pulled her up to hold her. “You’ll always have a family with me and Yerim. You’ve taken care of her way better than I ever have and you’ve taken care of and taught me so many things too. Family isn’t always blood and sometimes the family you choose is better for you than the one you were given.” With this, Jungeun finally gave in to Jinsoul’s sad face and gave her a kiss. Jinsoul deepened the kiss without hesitation and Jungeun let her for a few seconds before pulling away again. 

“Nope. Sleepytime.” 

Jinsoul groaned and flung her limbs to the ground to lay like a starfish with Jungeun laughed at her again. The blonde was about to sleep when she turned over when she spotted two figures in the distance playing around with a piece of meat around two wolves. 

“STOP THE CARRIAGE!” she yelled.

The carriage immediately came to a stop and Jungeun looked at her confused at the outburst. “What?! What’s wrong? Are you okay?” 

“I’m perfectly fine!” she answered before turning and sticking her head out the window. “HEY! GOWON! OLIVIA!” she yelled while waving vigorously. The two in the distance looked up to whoever called their names and waved back, recognizing her. However, when they spotted who she was with, their faces morphed into something of confusion and slight fear. Soul is with… the Dark Lord? And she wasn’t blasted to an oblivion right away? Weird. 

“What are you doing?” Gowon called.

“I’m going home! But don’t worry, I’ll be back soon, we should hangout then! Choerry isn’t with me right now, she’s at home but Jungeun is here!” Jinsoul pulled Jungeun further into view who awkwardly waved at the two girls who hesitated but waved back nevertheless. 

“Okay… Well, be safe!” Olivia answered. 

“You too!” Jinsoul smiled before pulling her head back in telling Jungeun that they can continue their trip. 

“That was weird.” Gowon said. They had seen the Dark Lord plenty of times before in the area but most of the time she looked more like an almighty being ready to obliterate anyone within a 10 mile radius and not… Jungeun. 

“You know what that means? Choerry has an open crib.” Olivia said.

“You’re right! Let’s go!” Gowon said before the two started going towards the direction of Talongate Cliff. 

-

Jinsoul eventually fell asleep but was woken up by Jungeun slightly shaking her.

“Hey, we’re going to stop in this town for a little bit. Do you wanna grab some food and stretch your legs a bit?” 

Jinsoul nodded and stepped out of the carriage to stretch her entire body. They walked into the towns market together and somewhere along the way, their hands became intertwined. They examined all the stalls and Jinsoul could have sworn her surroundings were extremely familiar when she spotted something in the distance and ran toward it while pulling Jungeun along with her.

“Jinsoul, hey, what the heck I was looking at fruit!” 

But Jinsoul did not hear her as she was raising her hand to tap someone on the shoulder. The girl turned around with a look of confusion on her face but after a few seconds, a look of recognition crossed the girls features. 

“Oh hey, it’s you again!” The girl said with a smile in an especially deep voice. 

“Hi! Heejin right? Where’s Hyunjin?” Jinsoul asked. 

“Yeah that’s me, and she went to go buy some snacks or something, she should be back soon.” And as if on cue, Hyunjin came into their peripheral view carrying what had to be enough bread and pastries enough to feed a family of four for a week.

“Hi Hyunjin!” Jinsoul said happily.

“Oh hey! How are you doing? We haven’t seen you in awhile, did you find what you were looking for?” Hyunjin said, smiling over her mountain of snacks.

“Yup!” Jinsoul said while lifting her arm to show her hand still intertwined with Jungeun’s. 

The two girls looked at Jungeun and were both confused before a look of fear overcame both their faces and Hyunjin dropped her pile of food. Heejin threw her body to the ground and bowed while Hyunjin just stood there, mouth dropped in shock and now blinking. 

“Oh mighty Dark Lord I had no idea it was you, I’m so sorry please don’t hurt me.” Heejin said, still in a bowing position on the ground. 

“What? Why would I hurt you? We’re just here to buy supplies.” Jungeun said.

“Oh… Well in that case, I hope you guys have a safe trip. Also thanks for lunch last time, Soul, see you next time!” Heejin said quickly while shoving Hyunjin’s food back into her arms and dragging her away, with the latter’s face still stuck in shock. 

“That… was weird.” Jinsoul said confused, turning to Jungeun who had an unreadable look on her face. Jinsoul simply shrugged and pulled her away again to look for other supplies and stock up on food. 

-

Jinsoul was examining a stall of cool looking trinkets when she accidentally dropped a teapot, breaking it. “Ah, shit.” she said under her breath and when she tried to pick up the pieces, she cut her palm pretty deep. “Oh great, this hurts like a bitch.” She said while watching the blood drip from her hand.

“Are you always in need of medical assistance in one way or another?” 

Jinsoul turned around to see some of her newly favorite people in the world walking up behind her.

“CHUU!” 

“SOUL!”

“CHUU!”

“SOUL!”

“YVES!”

“Hi, Soul.” 

“You’re no fun.” 

Yves rolled her eyes as the other two women pulled her together with them into a group hug. They stayed hugging for a bit before Chuu remembered the state of Jinsoul’s hand and grabbed it to examine it. 

“It’s not too bad, just some cleaning medicine and bandage will do, one second.” Chuu said as she reached into her bag and pulled out the materials. 

“So what are you guys doing in town? I thought you guys explored the desert?” Jinsoul said. 

“We live here, we don’t live in the desert, that would totally be unsafe.” Yves said.

“Ah, I see. Do you guys know Heejin and Hyunjin?” 

“Yeah actually, they don’t live too far away from us. Heejin is training to be a medic like Chuu here while Hyunjin is training to be a soldier and eventually a knight, like me.” 

“Wow, that’s awesome. All my favorite people in one town!” Jinsoul said which made the other two laugh. 

“There you go, you should be good. Just be careful and mostly use your other hand instead of this one.” Chuu said, fully bandaging Jinsoul’s right hand. 

“Okay! Thank you so much, I don’t know how I could ever repay you for helping me so often!”

“Don’t worry about it, like we said, it’s what we do. Just stay safe, and let’s meet under better conditions next time, yeah?” Yves said while patting Jinsoul on the shoulder. 

“Definitely, will do!” Jinsoul said and before she could say anything else, Jungeun returned. 

“Jinsoul? What happened, are you okay?” she asked while softly holding her injured hand, examining it. 

“Just an accident, babe, don’t worry, I’m fine thanks to Chuu and Yves here!” 

Once Jungeun got over the initial pause of Jinsoul calling her “babe” she looked at the other two women in front of them.

“You look familiar… have we met?” Chuu asked.

“No, I don’t think so.” Jungeun said nervously.

“She’s Choerry’s mom!” Jinsoul said proudly. 

“Oh, Choerry!! How is she doing? I hope she healed properly.” Chuu said.

“She did! Almost overnight actually. Apparently being the Dark Lord’s daughter and having superhuman abilities does that for you.” Jinsoul chuckled. Chuu and Yves looked at her in shock, then at Jungeun, then at each other. 

“You mean… You’re… the Dark Lord?” Yves asked slowly. 

“Nice to meet you? Thank you so much for helping my daughter.” Jungeun said awkwardly. 

“Wow. I never honestly thought we would ever meet face to face. I mean maybe one day we would have but I feel as though we’ve already met. With you causing destruction and us trying to repair it haha. Oh wait sorry I probably shouldn’t have said that, I’m so sorry, please don’t hurt me.” Chuu said while putting her hands together, begging for forgiveness. 

Jungeun genuinely had no idea what to say to that but she was starting to get uncomfortable with people automatically being deathly afraid of her, even though they had fair reason to be. “I’m not going to hurt you. And I’m sorry for a lot of things I’ve done, it's just… complicated. You don’t have to worry about it anymore though, honestly. Hopefully.” 

The other two didn’t know if they should believe her or not but simply nodded to avoid getting killed on the spot. Jinsoul wasn’t exactly sure what was happening here. Were people really this scared of Jungeun? She could somewhat see why but damn, if only they knew how much of a softie she really was when she wasn’t on her way to destroy thousands of people! (A/N: i’m also talking about off stage Kim Lip vs. on stage Kim Lip here) 

“Well this has been nice, it was great catching up with you Soul or Jinsoul or whatever your name actually is but we must go now! Come back soon, would love to hang!” Yves said as she grabbed Chuu’s hand. 

“It’s Jinsoul and yeah, for sure! I love you guys!” Jinsoul beamed.

“We love you too! See you later!” Chuu answered before she was dragged away.

“You know so many people.” Jungeun said exasperatedly. 

“I just happened to make friends on my trip! They’re all great, probably wouldn’t be here without all of them, Choerry included. Anyway, we should probably get going, it’s almost nighttime!” Jinsoul beamed as they started making their way back to the carriage. 

As soon as they got back to the vehicle, Jinsoul made it through eating a single apple before falling asleep again, making Jungeun laugh. What a baby. 

-

The next time Jinsoul woke up, they were at the outskirts of the Jung castle and both women were getting incredibly nervous. Jinsoul because she was about to face her father again and tell him that she no longer wants anything to do with them and Jungeun because she was on her enemy’s land. 

When they got to the gate, guards immediately surrounded them 

“Who are you? What business do you have being here?” One of them demanded. 

Jinsoul showed her face in the window and glared at him. “Let us in.” she demanded. The man’s face immediately showed surprise and he started to panic. “Princess Jinsoul, my apologies, I didn’t know you were here. I honestly didn’t think you were ever going to come back-” 

“Well I’m still alive and want to see my father. Let us in immediately.” Jinsoul glared again. Jungeun had to admit internally that fierce Jinsoul was pretty hot and she would perhaps piss her off in the future just to see it again. The guard nodded and signaled for the gates to open and for the other guards to disperse. The carriage approached the castle and Jinsoul stood in front of the huge doors before taking a deep breath. 

“You can wait in my room if you want, I’ll come get you when I’m done.” 

“No, I wanna come with you. I’ll be by your side no matter what.” Jungeun said while grabbing Jinsoul’s hand. The girl nodded before taking another huge breath and opening the doors to the castle and strutting in. Jungeun didn’t even have time to admire the decoration and the vast halls of the castle before she was pulled in front of yet another large door. 

Jinsoul knocked on the door before she could let herself chicken out and when the door opened, she quickly pushed past the guard and walked straight up the aisle. At the other end of the room sat a very large man, looking over a group of men surrounding a map. He must be in a war planning meeting. As soon as he looked up at the intruder, his jaw dropped. 

“Jinsoul? When did you come back?” He asked while standing up.

“Literally right now. I’m not staying long, I just have some business here to take care of.” 

“What is it? Did you find the Dark Lord? Destroy her?” At this, both Jungeun’s and Jinsoul’s heart rate spiked. Jungeun realized that no one had actually seen her face before, she had always worn a cloak and mask whenever she left as the Dark Lord and it finally clicked to her that that’s why everyone they ran into was only scared of her once it was revealed who she was. 

“I did find her, father. But no, I didn’t destroy her.”

“Well that’s a shame. I didn’t exactly expect much from your trip though, if I couldn’t do it how could you? I thought it was a little ridiculous when you said that you were going to go but I still had little hope.” He said while shaking his head. 

At this point, Jinsoul started to feel tears prick her eyes and some part of her wanted to beg him to give her another chance but the feeling of Jungeun squeezing her hand kept her strong. 

“I couldn’t do it, father. I couldn’t destroy her and if I could go back, I still wouldn’t. If anything, I would destroy _you_ instead.” She said through gritted teeth.

“Me? Why me? You’re a Jung, Jinsoul, please don't act like this, you’re embarrassing me.” 

“No. No more. Starting today, I’m renouncing my title. I am no longer a Jung and you no longer have any control of me, I will be leaving immediately and hopefully we never have to meet again.” 

“You cannot be serious. Giving up your royal status? What for? We all have failures, just train harder and maybe you can kill her next time instead.” Her father scoffed.

“ _No._ I don’t want to destroy her, how am I supposed to kill someone I’ve fallen in love with?” Jinsoul said through the tears in her eyes. 

“ _What?!_ What do you mean you’ve fallen in love with her? Who’s _her_ anyway?” He said in disgust. 

_Is he serious? I’m literally standing right here._ Jungeun thought. Jinsoul lifted their hands up to show her father and he acknowledged Jungeun’s presence for the first time. 

“Her? Who even is that? That’s not the Dark Lord I fought. That woman is too small and fragile.” He laughed, making the other guards in the room laugh with him. Before Jinsoul could argue, Jungeun stepped in front of her and pushed her backwards a little. “Step back.” she whispered. Jinsoul didn’t want to argue so she did as she was told and watched with wide eyes as Jungeun turned around and looked at her father dead in the eyes. The look on his face and the guards face told Jinsoul one thing- Jungeun’s eyes were now black. She knew what this meant and backed up even further, almost to the door. 

She watched as Jungeun raised her hands and started levitating while throwing different rounds of dark energy all over the room, first easily taking out the guards while throwing a few at the ruler, hitting him square in the chest a couple times. It took less than 15 minutes for her to finish and return to the ground. 

_Wow, that was hot. Wait what._ Jinsoul thought. 

Jinsoul watched as her dad and all his guards laid on the ground, gasping as they just had all the air knocked out of them. He looked extremely angry so Jinsoul grabbed Jungeun's hand and ran straight out of the room. 

“YOU’RE GOING TO REGRET THIS, JINSOUL, YOU’RE MAKING A MISTAKE!” they heard him yell as they ran through the castle halls. 

Jinsoul ran straight to her room and pulled out a chest and started throwing all her belongings in them to take with her when her door suddenly opened. She was afraid it was going to be her dad or a bunch of guards coming to execute them but to her surprise, her mom walked in. 

“Oh Jinsoul! You’re really back! I’ve missed you so much.” her mom said as she pulled Jinsoul into a hug to which she reciprocated. 

“Mom, I’ve missed you so much too but I’m not back, I’m not staying.” Jinsoul said, starting to cry. 

“What? What do you mean? Where are you going?” Her mom asked, also starting to cry.

“I can’t stay here. Father has been killing my entire life but I’m afraid that if I stay, he’ll actually do it. Don’t worry I’ll be safe and will find a way to visit you often but I can’t be here anymore.” she explained while hugging her mom again. 

“I can’t say I’m surprised but I do understand. Please be safe and always let me know what you’re up to.” her mom said while cupping her face and kissing her forehead. 

Jinsoul looked at Jungeun with tears in her eyes. “I will. I’ll be safer than I’ve ever been.” 

Jinsoul’s mom looked at Jungeun and nodded. “I’ll go hold your dad off for awhile, go quickly.” she said while making her way to the door. Jungeun nodded while Jinsoul continued to throw her things into the chest.

“Ugh Jinsoul at least be a little neater, you can fit so many more things if you just folded your clothes correctly-” 

“ _Mom,_ this really isn’t the time!!” 

“Right, sorry, gonna go now!” The woman nodded before finally leaving the room. 

After about 5 minutes more of Jinsoul randomly dumping what she thought was important, she finally finished and locked the case. 

“Okay, I’m good, let’s go.” 

“Okay, how are we going to get that to the carriage? Do you wanna hold one side and I’ll carry the other- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Jungeun screamed out in shock as she watched Jinsoul simply chuck her chest out the window, landing with a loud _thump_ on the ground below. 

“What? The carriage is parked like right there and I didn’t wanna carry it. NOW LET'S GO!” Jinsoul said as she shrugged and ran out the room.

_What the fuck?_

-

One week later, Jinsoul and Jungeun had finally settled back into Jungeun’s house and they could finally breathe for a second. 

“I’m glad you guys brought cakes back from that town, they slap.” Choerry said while munching on a sponge cake. 

“They what? Who slapped you?” Jungeun asked, confused. 

“God, no one mom! It’s just an expression.” Choerry said as she rolled her eyes. 

“You’ve been hanging out with Olivia and Gowon too much,” Jinsoul laughed. 

“They’re so cool though! I’m going to hangout with them soon today too, they’re gonna teach me how to ride a wolf!” 

“They _what?!_ ” Jungeun exclaimed, raising her eyebrows. 

“I mean we’re gonna make friendship bracelets and talk about the weather.” Choerry pulled her most innocent smile while her mom just stared at her unamused. 

“Anywayyyy, so Jinsoul, how does it feel to no longer be a Jung?” Choerry asked, trying to deflect the conversation to anyone but herself.

“Kind of weird. I no longer have a last name but I feel like it’s an important thing to have? I kinda feel like I don’t have an identity anymore, I don’t know.” Jinsoul looked kind of sad. 

“Welllll… If you’d like, you can become a Kim if you’d like.” Jungeun, slowly sliding her way across the counter towards Jinsoul. 

“Kim Jungeun, are you asking me to marry you?” Jinsoul laughed while wrapping her arms around Jungeun’s neck.

“I mean if you want to get specific, I would love it if we got married but solely to officially bring you into the family of course and for tax reasons, nothing more.” Jungeun joked. 

“Right, right, for the taxes and property charges, I understand.” Jinsoul laughed. 

“God this is the grossest thing I’ve ever seen. I love it so much.” Choerry groaned. The two older women gasped and ran over to her, squishing her in the middle of a hug.

“I can’t believe I’m going to marry the Dark Lord, wow this is unbelievable! Where’s my ring?!” Jinsoul exclaimed. 

“Don’t worry I’ll get you the best ring in the history of rings. But speaking of which… I don’t think I’m going to be going by the Dark Lord or doing any kind of Dark Lord things from now on…” At this, Jinsoul and Choerry both gasped. 

“Wait really? Why not? Isn’t it kind of a family thing we have no choice but to do?” Choerry asked. 

“I mean not exactly. The tradition is there but who says we can’t use our powers for good? Seeing so many people automatically being scared of me at the mention of my name made me realize that this really isn’t how I want us to be remembered. I figured that if Jinsoul can rewrite her destiny into something better then so can I. Love is a much stronger force than hate.” Jungeun explained nervously. 

Choerry tearfully hugged her mom who hugged her back. Jinsoul joined them while whispering an “I’m so proud of you” in Jungeun’s ear. 

“So no more Dark Lord? What are people going to call you now? “Jungeun” doesn’t exactly have the same ring to it.” Jinsoul asked. 

“Hmm… I was thinking something along the lines of Kim Lip?” 

“I love it. Because I love your lips and I love you and I love the thought of being married to you and I love us and-” 

“We get it Jinsoul, please keep your cool.” Choerry teased before being chased around the kitchen by her. Jungeun watched as her two favorite people started wrestling on the kitchen floor, thinking about how her life finally feels like it has purpose. 

-

One month later, Jungeun was in her garden, watering her new tomato plants. She had received them randomly from Chuu soon after she had married Jinsoul. She cursed Jinsoul for having so many friends but she found that getting gifts was exciting. Jinsoul's mom had even sent them a gift and Jungeun couldn't be more grateful that Jinsoul had at least one of her parents in her life still. 

“MOM!”

Jungeun turned around and saw Choerry standing by the door, extremely giddy and bouncing up and down. 

“What is it, Yerim?” 

“AFTER YEARS OF BEING IN HIDING, SHE HAS FINALLY MADE AN APPEARANCE. LADIES AND GAYS, YOU ARE NOT READY FOR WHAT IS ABOUT TO GO DOOWWWNN.” Choerry screamed in her best announcer voice while Jungeun looked at her amused with an eyebrow raised. The little girl had recently dyed her hair to pink and immediately forgot to act. 

“NO ONE COULD HAVE EVER PREDICTED THIS IN A THOUSAND YEARS BUT WE ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE IN THE PRESENCE IN THIS EVER SO SPECIAL EVENT.” 

“Yerim, get on with it, what is this about?” Jungeun said, rolling her eyes.

“God, have some excitement will you? Fine. INTRODUCING, THE NEW AND IMPROVED, KIM JINSOUL!!!!” she screamed while waving her jazz hands at the door. What walked through it could have floored Jungeun for at least 1000 years. 

Slowly making her way toward her wife was black haired Jinsoul. Jungeun was extremely overwhelmed and if Jinsoul looked good as a blonde, she looked absolutely like a goddess with black hair. 

“Wow I was expecting at least a compliment or something.” Jinsoul laughed when she finally reached her wife.

“How? What? When? Why?” Jungeun sputtered out while reaching to comb through Jinsoul’s new hair. 

“Yerim helped me dye it, black is cool and my head was looking kinda fried to be honest, like an hour ago, and _Jung_ Jinsoul is a blonde but _Kim_ Jinsoul is a black hair kind of person. Do you like it?” she asked nervously.

“So much. You look beautiful and I love you so much, wow.” Jungeun said, pulling Jinsoul in for a kiss. 

“EVERYONE SAY THANK YOU, CHOERRY.” she yelled from the door. 

“Thank you, Yerim.” 

“Thanks, little one.” Jungeun and Jinsoul said. 

“So what are you doing?” Jinsoul asked, kneeling to see the plant. 

“Just watering the garden. It seems like a better use of this field other than a giant fight zone.” 

“Right! This is where we had our fight. You absolutely destroyed me right over there.” Jinsoul laughed. 

“Well, how about I destroy you again? But in another way?” Jungeun said suggestively, making the other woman blush. 

“BLEGH! BARF! VOMIT! I’m gonna go hangout with Gowon and Olivia, BYE!” Choerry said before aggressively closing the door and running off. 

“Did she just lock us out?” Jinsoul asked.

“Who cares, more time for us outside.” Jungeun said, pulling Jinsoul in for a kiss, both their hands roaming. 

“I love you, Kim Jungeun.” 

“I love you more, Kim Jinsoul.” 

They ended up staying in the garden until nighttime, stargazing together. 

-FIN-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a twitter! Please don't hesitate to follow and message me on there, I'll follow you back and would love to make some friends!! <3 
> 
> twt: @fruitysoull


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